Neighbors

Just the other day, Andy and I commented on how very thankful we are for our new neighbors.  With such a warm winter, we've been outside more than we normally would, allowing the kids to play and develop friendships, and we've walked over to chat outside in the afternoons.  After we moved in, two of the neighbors closest got together and gave us a welcome fruit basket and gave me the scoop on the nearest 24-hour stores, shortcuts to town and so on.  Days later, the folks on the other side offered their assistance should we ever need anything and welcomed us as well.  They have a young granddaughter who visits frequently; I look forward to the girls meeting her.  Did I mention how GLAD we are for kind neighbors?

We have other neighbors who have dropped by, but haven't said very much.  It was either early in the morning or late at night when they were here....They seem to be the type to keep to themselves - uh-oh, does this bode well?  You never know.  Our neighbor, Timmy, set up a camera in our back yard to take a picture of these stealthy neighbors....he shared these pictures with us:

"So, this where the party's at?"

"Gonna party all night long, oooo.....oooo..gonna party all night long..."

"I don't think I like these new people."

"Nope, I'm SO outta here."

"Where'd everybody go?  Hello?? ~ hello??"

"Party?  Someone say party??"

"C'mon Benjamin, she said thankFUL not thanksGIVING.....quit hiding and come outta' the bushes..."

"I was never here, got it?  NE-VER here!"

So, we're looking forward to seeing more of and getting to know our neighbors as time goes by.  Can't wait to see who else we're going to be meeting - I bet they'll be interesting!

thoughts on Spring

Now that we've pretty much finished unpacking and are settled into our new surroundings, I've taken the time and had a good look around.  We've moved to this new home in the middle of what is passing for winter this year:  I think the average temperature has only been in the 50's and there's been no snow.  The trees are mostly bare except for the evergreens and some of the oaks which hold their leathery leaves until the first buds of spring push them off.  The grass of the lawn is brown, azaleas with their deep purple leaves look chilled and the underbrush on the back hillside where lumber was harvested a couple years ago is grey-brown and dusky-looking.

Whenever we've gone to the Maple Festival up in Highland County its been overcast, wet, slushy and cold.  So I always associate that type of weather with the area, although I know that in summer it is hot, green and lush.  It was like that too, in Oklahoma: for me, it is always cold, damp and snowy.

Here in Hardy the great outdoors is cold, washed-out, brown and damp.  Inside, the walls are painted with strong, earthy colors - too bold for my liking.  They serve to emphasize the heaviness that hangs on like a leaden blanket.

Somehow I am hopeful as the calendar promises to turn in the next couple days to February, a month closer to Spring.  Yesterday morning I walked in the back yard and flushed out five or six white-tail deer from down near the creek.  They ran, snorting, up the back hill and up to and across the ridge.  They must be the same group that mingles in front of the game camera set up by our neighbor on the back corner of the property.  I wonder if they, too, are waiting for spring, or if they realize its been over a year since they last walked through snow.  Of course I still hope that the Farmer's Almanac is correct in its prediction of a Valentine's Day storm; the girls and I want to put the hills to good use.

I can't imagine what the yard will look like in its Spring greenery, or how the sunlight will fall against newly-painted walls at a different angle than in the winter months.  I look forward to what berries might be growing after a long winter of dormancy in the underbrush.  I'm eager to enjoy the sound of the creek after clearing out an area to sit in the warm sunshine.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to join this property in a slow cycle.  We can afford a leisurely pace while the weather keeps us inside.  I have feeling that the spring and summertime will bring busy outdoor adventures in gardening, land clearing, animals and learning.  I think we're all looking forward to the changes.

Still Here, Praising

I considered abandoning this blog all together, based on the randomness of my postings, but I think I'll give it another shot.  After all, I still have MUCH to say on so many things, AND I appreciate the encouragement from comments and e-mails that these posts encourage.

I'm very selfish, you see....

Many changes, great and small, have taken place in the last several weeks and months since I've updated.  Most momentously has been our move from the Alleghany Mountains outside of Covington down to the Blue Ridge Highlands of Franklin County.  God has moved in ways that are evident and we are thankful for His many gifts in this whole process.

Without dwelling on past experience too much, I'll share some of the ways we've been blessed by this move, both directly and indirectly:

1.  DH's commute has gone from almost 80 miles each way to 18.  He's home by 5:45 rather than 7PM.
2.  We have 5 acres - compared to 1.5, and our neighbors are thrilled to hear we're planning on having chickens!
3.  We have joined a large, God-centered, homeschool group here in Franklin County and the girls attend co-op with dozens of other children weekly.  Praise God.
4.  Our home has enough bathrooms that we don't risk an impromptu biology or "family life" lesson when daddy is in the shower and a little girl "has" to use the potty.  Ahem.
5.  We have a dishwasher.
6.  And central air.
7.  And a hot tub.

AND, the girls gleefully attend AWANAs on Wednesday night at the church we've been attending, which is just 7 or 8 miles up the road.  We have been encouraged by the relationships we're building in Sunday School and have talked about once again opening our home to a regular (weekly? bi-weekly?) Bible study once we're completely settled.

We continue to pray and ask the Lord to work in the details of the home purchase, safety for Andy and each of us as we travel on two lane country roads, physical health and motivation toward personal goals of spiritual growth and a healthier lifestyle.  For the girls, we have asked for help in parenting and direction in schooling.

Personally, I am struggling (as always) with self-discipline, motivation and organization.  But that is another post; one which, I anticipate, will be written in the near future.

Thank you for reading!

Psalm 27:8

When you said, "Seek my face," my heart said to you, "Your face, O LORD, I shall seek."

A Week of Creativity

Inspired by a pin I saw on Pinterest (you HAVE lingered there, right?!), I made this wall hanging as a gift for a friend who is having her first baby:

The fabric and ribbon are new, but most of the buttons are "vintage."

....and I made a card to go with it:

Thankfulness Journal

We've begun a new unit on Miracles in our Sunday School class, and it motivated me to follow through on something I've been meaning to do for a couple years:  create a Thankfulness Journal.

I had one years ago when I first started working - it was a confidence booster at the time, where I wrote things people said that (what to me at the time) seemed to validate my work, my competency, etc.  I needed it when I was feeling unsure of myself.

Other times I've written lists of things for which I am thankful, but those were impermanent and I couldn't put my finger on them now if I had to.  Therefore, I'm going to dedicate one of the many hard-backed, blank, lined journals I pick up here and there to a Thankfulness Journal.

What does Thankfulness have to with miracles?  Well, for me, I am SUPREMELY thankful when I see God play an active part - even in small ways** - in my daily life ~ some people call them "God Sightings" or "God Winks," but neither of those phrases really grab me, so until I find a new way to describe them, I'll just refer to them as things for which I am thankful and write them in my journal.  Personally, I think they are "Mini Miracles," because, I mean, hey, isn't it a MIRACLE that the GOD OF THE UNIVERSE cares about little ole' me?

I see God alive and at work in my life in the smallest ways.  I mean, VERY SMALL.  An atheist or agnostic might dismiss things that I notice as coincidence, I take it as evidence that God cares about every part of me and is involved in the mundane day to day activity in my life.


FOR EXAMPLE, and here is a Homeschooling Moment:

This morning we began our school day as we always do - with our Bible lesson and memory verse of the week.  This week's verse is

Matthew 5:16:  Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

(OF COURSE, we sang This Little Light of Mine)

But to put our verse in context, I backed up some....

Matthew 5:13:  You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how ^[e]can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.

We had a lovely discussion about salt losing its saltiness ~ (background:  If the four year old finds a salt shaker on the table and pours it out on said table, licks it....licks it...licks it.... she throws up.  She doesn't say why she is retching, however, but Mama's detective skills are improving.  We Have Learned That Too Much Salt Is Not Good For Our Bodies And They Reject It.) ~ which has been a pertinent issue in our home at least twice.  They know about salt.

Anyways, we moved on to History.

We are using Mystery of History as our backbone curriculum and (more on that in another post) this morning we began to look at cultures outside of the middle east, specifically, China.  We did the lesson, learned about the first couple dynasties and, as a surprise, I took the girls to "Chinese" for lunch.  We compared the characters of the Chinese alphabet on the back of our chopsticks packages to hieroglyphics and cuneiform writing, talked about the differences in food and the different gods (idols) they worshiped ~ Chinese restaurants aren't complete without a Buddha! 

Lovin' us some homeschooling!

So then it was Fortune Cookie Time.

Now daggone it if I didn't lose my 'fortune,' but it said something about filling someone's head with knowledge vs. teaching them to learn for themselves.  I "just happen"** (see above) to be reading to be reading a book about Classical Education vs. Outcome-Based Education.  Right on target!  Hannah's fortune was: Keep negative comments to yourself, avoid any disputes.  Eh?  Maybe not.  Nice, but not necessarily words to live by.

But what I thought was REALLY NEATO was that on the back her "Learn Chinese" word was, SALT.

Really?

Yes, really.

Its going in the journal.

Do U See Math?

Did I mention that we had changed our math curriculum?
Based on outstanding reviews from friends, we switched to Math U See this year.  It has three components: a DVD lesson, a teacher's guide and a student workbook.  Oh, there's the manipulatives, too - base 10 blocks I guess you could call them - interlocking from the bottoms and used heavily in the lessons.
The program is geared toward various learning styles, and we've really enjoyed it so far....Han is in the second book, "Beta," and will finish that book (30 lessons) by the end of next week.  We'll move into the "Gamma" book directly afterward.  It is largely self-paced - and that is the point.  They want to ensure that each concept is nailed and learned solidly before the next one is introduced.  Much of the "Beta" work is review from our program of last year, which is another reason she's flying through it.
I haven't mentioned that a Very Good Friend shared her teacher's manuals and DVD's with us.  What a money-saver....almost $200 worth!  Wow.  She even shipped them out here from Oklahoma!  OK!  Thank you Lesly!
But wait, there's MORE!
In order to begin the program we had to order the student workbooks.  We needed the Primer (for A) and the Beta for H (we skipped the Alpha, the basic math facts).  We also needed the manipulative blocks.
So I went to the Math U See website and placed the order.  Rats.  They were out of the blocks, pictured here.  "Temporarily Out of Stock" the note said.  Nonetheless, we wanted to get started right away so I placed my order for the books.
The next day I went back to the website to check and see if the blocks were available....they were!  Now, to try and stop my order from shipping, I contacted the customer service "help chat" and told the Nice Lady my story.
This Very Helpful Person said she would try and stop my order before it left the warehouse so that the blocks could be added to the box to save me a second round of shipping costs (almost $12!).  I told her that if it couldn't be done, I understood, as I probably should have waited to place my order.  She said she'd get back to me the next day.
Alas, my order shipped separately as I was informed by email.  No big deal.  After all, the Instruction Manuals and DVDs were Free To Me so it was a pretty good deal to begin with.  We were still in our school budget for the program.  And as it turned out, shipping was much quicker than the 5 days suggested on the website.

(((time passes)))

A couple weeks later Andy asked me if I expecting a rebate check from Math U See.
"No, lemme see it!"
After a lively discussion of "its mine,"
"NO its MINE" etc.
ensured, I emerged victorious and was able to see the amount.
THIS NICE COMPANY refunded the cost of shipping my second package!  Without even being asked!  And loooong after the whole incident was pushed far from my mind.  Really?  They did that for US?
So, not only am I impressed with the quality of their teaching, but the company itself is devoted to its customers as well.
The money refunded will be turned around again next week and used to purchase the next book in the series, but isn't that a great story?  They really did the right thing.  And now, I'm going to try and reciprocate by passing along my experience to you!

Blogging - And Why I Haven't Been

I've been Living the Life!  I think about something almost daily to write about, but when it comes time...there IS none!  I've mentioned before how my computer time is usually in the evenings when Andy is asleep or trying to drift off.  My 'clicking' over here would be MUCH too distracting for him, so I try to do more 'mouse clicks' than keyboard clicks. (There should be a clever way to phrase that, but I can't come up with it now)....

The girls have made friends with a little girl who, along with her parents and older brother, moved in with her grandparents across the street.  She comes over 3-4 afternoons a week and my girls are thrilled.  They have never had a child live so close by that they could just show up, unannounced, without hitching a ride from a parent.  I love it, too ~ it reminds me of when Amy and I used to play with our friend, Diana, who lived down the street.  They're pretty content to play on the swingset, in the creek, in the carport and under the pine trees, AKA the Tearoom.  She's over here now, which is why I can sneak a few minutes on the computer!

All the same, I am eager for our house to sell so that we can move closer to Roanoke and more homeschooling families, events and activities.  I want the girls to get involved in 4H and ballet (Abigail), but I don't want to start here and have to change mid-year.  Of course, only the Lord knows the plans He has for us, and we could very well be here for another year.  I hope not,  because I don't like the idea of Andy driving 76 miles each way in the wintertime with snow and ice in the forecast.  Its hard to be patient... and yet, 1 Corinthians 13:1 lists patient as the first descriptor of love.  Hmmmmm....could my having patience about a move be a testimony to my love for God?  There's a lesson in there somewhere....

We've enjoyed being outdoors a lot this early Fall.  We've taken a couple quick family walks in the woods and two nice long bike rides down the (Rails To Trails) Jackson River Trail.  I hooked the "Wee Ride / Co-Pilot" tandem bike to mine and Hannah rides a new bike our neighbor gave her last year, and we trek away.  I hope to get over to the Greenbrier River Trail, too, pretty soon to take advantage of that as well.  Here in Callaghan there are few areas to really ride....its 45MPH in front of our house and that's the low end of the scale for the speedies who fly by.

I'll leave you with some pictures of the girls' adventures....

Keepin' on keepin' on!

A funny face after a long ride

"Wading" in the Jackson River at Petticoat Junction