This is Our Life

Hey All,

I know it has been another long while since my last post and I have once again dropped the ball on my blogging, but oh well. It is what it is when you're busy with life.

So we are about 1/2 a semester into school this year. Justin in 6th grade, Asilyn in 2nd, and Kailyn in 1st. Its been an adjustment to say the least. I knew early on last year that I felt led and had an intense desire to homeschool not only my special needs son, but also my two younger daughters. I am happy to say I stuck to that and we are in the throes of embracing homeschool life.

The first month or two was a huge adjustment. Learning how to manipulate each child's schedule to lend quality one on one time to teach those poignant areas that they couldn't otherwise learn on their own, while at the same time allotting the right amount of time on the computer so as to not disrupt another child's schedule but allows for enough time for him/her to complete her own online lesson. Creating an environment that feels like school, so that they will take their lessons and responsibilities seriously, while at the same time maintaining that nice flexibility that homeschooling lends. And of course battling the "I just want to be lazy because I'm at home" blues that we all seem to get at some point or another during that first couple months.

But we made it past those stressful months and we are still trekking through school. I admit to some concern as far as Justin as he is still on par with his classmates, curriculum-wise, which means he, as a special needs child, is doing a nuero-typical child's 6th grade work. Great! I'm sure you are thinking. Not so great. Justin's comprehension issues (auditory processing and reading comprehension) put him very low for his age, said to be at a 1% on the percentile range... it is truly amazing that he has made it this far. And with that type of disability, it makes it hard to read 60 page stories and write a 6 paragraph essay comparing and contrasting the main character's moral of the story to the moral of an 85 page story he read 2 weeks ago. Already confused? Imagine trying to decipher that with a mental comprehension disability. Needless to say, this means late nights with my man so he can get that much needed one on one that he has been used to in previous years and I can help explain things on his own mental level. And let me tell you, 6th grade isn't what it used to be folks. I find myself having to brush off the mental dust, google a few things, do a few practice problems before even thinking about trying to teach him. :)  **As a side note to this, we just received his scores for his midterm scantrons that assess where he is in comparison to the beginning of the year, including previous years scores as a graph to see how far he has come or where he needs more help. He has simply blown me and his online teacher away. Typically in the subject of reading he scores in the "At Risk" range, or lower. This time he scored less than 100 points away from being in the "Above Average-Advanced" range. Whoa. Maybe a good day? Fluke? Maybe he is actually getting it? Whatever it is, it brought tears to my eyes and I can only hope and pray that it's not a fluke and he is actually retaining some of the things he is reading now. That would be amazing and nothing short of some much needed answers to some heartfelt prayers.

My girls are learning so much, from Egyptians to Romans, to myths and emperors in the Ancient Era. Even French! Ju nu sais pas much but I'm working on it. :) They are really enjoying homeschool, and I have to say, though I had much trepidation in the beginning, I am too! I absolutely LOVE having my babies home with me everyday. I love seeing their brilliant minds expand and grasp new ideas. I love hearing them recall the things they are learning weeks later from learning it. I love seeing them grow and never missing a moment! It is simply amazing to me and I know that if we keep this up, I'm going to have some seriously intelligent children on my hands. And I'm not just saying that because they are mine... oh no, I'm learning so much and it's almost pathetic that I'm learning things from a 1st and 2nd grade curriculum. Ha! But to hear my little babies (and getting-big babies) using large words correctly instead of the typical small-word vocabulary is music to my ears! It makes me feel accomplished, more than any other feeling I have ever had!! I can't explain it, just knowing that I am responsible for the education they receive... and see it to fruition... its unreal.

Life on the home front can be somewhat monotonous, but definitely not as boring as it used to be. Having three very different, very boisterous children can ensure anything BUT boredom. I have yet to master a clean house with this job. Or have all the laundry done at any given time. I haven't found the perfect system to making this house run efficiently and effectively... yet. I'm trying. Every other month I come up with a new system or make changes to the old one to try and make it work so that I am not a haggard young mom who has to wait 4 days and until midnight to take the time to shower and shave. Having a system, keeping a system is the key to my mental sanity (and my husband's- who has done his fair share of walking into the house from work and rolling up his sleeves, and going elbow deep in a sink full of dishes- God Bless Him). But we are continuously trying.

This month's system consists of rules we all sat down and made together as a family. I figured if the kids could help us to come up with the rules, maybe they'd be less apt to disobey them? So far so good but we are only a few days outside of the official rule making so not a very good and accurate representation of how well this system will work with us. Some of our "new rules" are:

1.) Shower time every other day (unless its a particularly "dirty" day-lets face it, when you homeschool, there's not much germy madness the kiddos are immersed in, and the chances of a hot, sweaty day depends on weather really- so for now, every other day...)

2.)Thursday is our personal hygiene day (Shower always even if it's a "skip day" with a little help from mom to ensure deep down scrubbing, finger and toenails trimmed and cleaned, ears cleaned, a good teeth brushing and flossing from mom to ensure every inch is cleaned, etc)

3)No matter what time, before you lay your head down to rest, your bedroom MUST be clean. No exceptions. We even stuck to it on New Year's when we got home around 1 a.m. 

4)Make your bed every morning when you leave it. (We haven't officially started this one yet, but now that school has begun after winter break, it will begin soon!)

5) No matter whose bedroom it is, or how messy it gets, if you were playing in there at any point during the day, you WILL help clean it at Bedtime Cleanup. Showing respect for one another and their belongings and areas is a BIGGIE in this home.

6) Remember if you clean up what you mess up when you're done, it'll be less mess up to clean up after the setting of the sun! :)

Of course the hubby and I are to abide by these rules as well. Hey, I'm not too proud to admit that sometimes I need my kiddos reminding me of the "family rules" to keep my room in order. It can get pretty bad in there. Our room is just like anything else in my life... my kiddos come first and my needs come later (if at all)... it's just the way of things around here so sometimes we need a little self discipline to really get our butts into gear to help keep the system going if it's going to work at all. And by lending the kiddos some responsibility in keeping mom and dad in check about the rules, they seem to be more willing to make sure they follow them too. At the very least we can use it as a tool to train our children on not pointing out the flaws of others when you're "house is just as messy". ;)

Anyway, here's to a great 2013!!! Happy New Year everyone and I hope this year boasts as many smiles and laughter as I can possibly stand!!

Until Next Time,   

Trust? Faith? Should there be a line drawn?

It's a simple question really. Should there be a line drawn with how much or how far we go in our trust and faith in God? I'm going to let that question marinate in your mind while I move on. I'll come back to that one later.

There are only a few things in this world I have a passion for. My husband. I love that man with all that I am worldly capable of. There is not a day that goes by without me thanking God for bringing him into my life at the young age of 15. My children. I have advocated, taught, loved, and provided for them with a fervent passion only a parent can understand. Not a day goes without thanking the Almighty for entrusting to me the responsibility of their care. And beyond that, I am passionate about God, curious to know His thoughts on subjects that often come up in this world, determined to seek His Will with controversial topics.

Which brings me to the moment I woke up this morning. Groggy, unfocused, stretching it out. It was as if God were waking me up because in that moment the idea formed so crystal clear in my mind, only God... I'm definitely not the morning thinker. :) Yet clear as day I had a yearning to jump into the Bible and find out what God desires, what He requires of us, specifically regarding a topic that is highly controversial among the most adamant, and very close to my heart as it primarily affects my children.

I'm almost hesitant to say the word, for I don't want readers who are strikingly for this topic to either quit reading or to jump on the defensive. Yet I felt a really strong pull to write this. To research it. To discover what God may have to say. I don't think He woke me this morning without purpose or cause.
And honestly, if Christian women can write their blogs on the potential ill-effects of watching Magic Mike, then I, as a Christian woman can, with confidence in my God, write what I feel He is laying on my heart this morning.

Many of you know, I am strongly against vaccinating our children. The decision didn't come lightly nor without resistance from those closest to me. Nor without judgement from those who feel I am needlessly putting my children in harm's way. Nor without critics who believe differently from the way I do.

I have put in thousands of hours of research on the topic of vaccinating. I have read research, data, and medical journals, delved deeper into the meanings of things I didn't understand to gain a clearer picture of what I was reading. I have gone above and beyond researching a topic to make the logical decision I have come to today.

Not once did I go to the Bible for this decision. Not once did I seek God's will in our lives. I just knew I felt deeply convicted to not vaccinate our family.

You see, my son was injured by a vaccine. He was injured to the point that he cannot be repaired. There is no regrowing the brain nerves that were destroyed, there is no detoxing the damage. And what gets me the most, the vaccine that caused this irreversible damage, the MMR, is used to "prevent" diseases that have not caused irreversible harm in decades. The "benefit" did not outweigh the risk.

So after years of research, years of deep and sometimes argumentative conversation with my husband, we finally came to the decision to not vaccinate any of our children further. Before finally agreeing to this, I found myself praying deeply as they were giving my youngest daughter her shot (yes, shot as in singular, because if my husband insisted on vaccinating, the least I could do was spread them out), to "please, Lord, don't let this harm her. Don't let this one be the ONE that kills her. Don't let this one be the ONE that damages her brain. Please, Lord. Protect my baby" I knew things had to change. What an oxymoron. I'm praying that God would protect my baby from something I was allowing them to do to her? A friend of mine put it best... "It'd be just as ridiculous as holding your child underwater and praying that she hold her breath for the 30 seconds you hold her down, praying that she doesn't breathe, praying that she doesn't die... when the simple solution is to not hold her underwater in the first place!"

I had a friend of mine who is decidedly pro-vaccination say to me once in a heated discussion about vaccines, "Do you not trust God that He will take care of your child, protect your child from the bad stuff in the vaccine?" I had to sit back and mull over that one for a bit. Evaluate and reevaluate my own faith and trust in my Lord. Am I not trusting God? Am I not putting my faith in Him?

I've concluded that I am probably more trusting of God than I am of man, as I'm not putting my faith in man-made vaccines to "save" my child, I'm putting my faith in God, that He created our bodies to fight disease and that He will be our ultimate healer and protector.

When the very first "vaccine" was created (which consisted of cutting a pox pustule in an infected person, cutting a small slice in a healthy person's arm, and rubbing the two together), I truly believe that people were just trying to find a way to stop the "madness". Smallpox was being spread like wildfire. Adults and children alike. One would also do well to keep in mind that this was a day in age when people didn't know how things spread, or how to prevent spreading it. (Washing hands, covering your mouth, isolation, etc).

And maybe the idea of "vaccinating" was God-given. Maybe not. I don't know much about the guy who thought that intentionally giving a tiny bit of the infection directly into the bloodstream may help in preventing the illness. However, like everything else in this world, in a depraved society, people pervert it. Sex, for instance was created by God to be enjoyed within the confines of a marriage between a husband and his wife. This world has perverted sex, in the forms of exploitation, pornography, rape, incest, sodomy, etc. So lets say for the sake of argument, this guy who created the original "vaccine" received the idea from God. It was done with good intention. It was created for good. But just as with anything in this world, it has become perverted. It has become a means of billions of dollars a year to line the pockets of those that make them. They have put known deadly toxins in them simply because they are an excellent preservative and will allow for more vaccines to be made and to sit on the shelves at doctor's offices abroad for use. They have been "fined" for misconduct, for tax evasion, Medicare fraud, consent decrees, HPV contamination as well as falsifying data to reflect safety and efficacy for the vaccines that are mandatory for school attendance. That is just from our government and FDA. We, the people, are not personally allowed to sue them. They have immunity from us.

And nearly every year, another shot, another booster is added onto the roster. For instance, in 1980, about the time I was born, we got 3 vaccinations, 8 shots total (for the boosters) before the age of 2. That's it. And never more than 2 shots per visit. 30 years later, we have 49 doses or more. They've gone up like the rate of Autism.

Anyway, I digress. The point I'm trying to make is there is a fine line between "trusting God" and "trusting man & then trusting God". We are a depraved nation.

Lets look at what "faith" is. Christian Faith is defined as having a constant outlook of trust towards God, whereby human beings abandon all reliance on their own efforts and put their full confidence in him, his word and his promises. That speaks a lot. "Abandon all reliance on their own efforts". Say, reliance in things created by man to keep our children "safe", as if man could do it better than God could?

Lets look at what "trust" is. Trust is defined as reliance on and confidence in a person. Scripture affirms the total trustworthiness of God, especially in relation to his promises to his people. Christian faith is, essentially, trust in the person and character of God. While Scripture insists that believers should be able to trust one another, it also provides examples of false or misplaced trust.

In Jeremiah 2:13 (ESV) it says "for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water." Forsaken in this passage can mean "failed" or "neglected"... hewed (because if you're like me, I didn't know what hewed meant) in Hebrew can mean "engraved, hewn together", in other words to put pieces together to make their own cistern (which in this passage means "well"). So lets put this verse in perspective. God is saying here that his people (us, Christians) have failed or neglected him, as He is the TRUE living waters, He is our sustenance, He is our life source. And that instead of coming to him for "safety & efficacy" in our lives and the lives of our children, we go to our man made wells, put together with only a fragment of knowledge in how the body, this world, this universe works, that can hold NO water compared to that of our Living Water, who created the body, the world, the universe. I believe it grieves our Father when we look to broken and depraved people for protection when He is there, in all His absolute authority, longing for His children to come to Him for ALL.

In Isaiah 31:1 (ESV) it says, "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord!" Ouch. There's nothing to reword here. It goes on to say in verse 3 that the Egyptians are man and not God, the horses are flesh and not spirit. Woe to those who go to "man" for help and rely on "their flesh... their creations" but never look to the Holy One or consult with Him (in this passage "consult" can mean inquire or seek, of Him).

In Jeremiah 17:5 (ESV) it says, "Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord." In this passage "trust" can mean to rely on or to be careless in. Both of these speak to me. When my son was due for his shots, it never once occurred to me that I should be looking into the side effects and dangers of the vaccine. As a young mom, what the doctor said, went. I was careless in man. I put not only my faith and trust in them, but I didn't even second guess it. Not for a second. And then I think about the mom's who DO know the side effects, dangers, and risks of vaccinating, but choose to do so anyway, because they rely on man, they rely on those shots to protect their child. "Heart" in this passage can mean "conscience" and I thought that to be interesting. Our conscience is what convicts us, as Christians, God's spirit sent into us to guide us by the gentle pricking of our hearts, to not only help steer clear from temptations, but to condemn us of wrongdoing so that we can realize this and ask for forgiveness. For our conscience to "turn away from the Lord" could only mean that we ignored, silenced, distanced ourselves, or avoided it. Interestingly enough, the Hebrew word for "turns away" means just that. In perspective, we are avoiding the conscience of our Hearts, that is God, rather putting more trust in man and the creations of his flesh.

And lastly, in Jeremiah 9:4 (ESV) "Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother, for every brother is a deceiver, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer." Clearly to put our trust in man, we set ourselves up for certain disappointment. And likewise, to put our trust in the things man makes, we can expect the same outcome.

As reports from around the world are surfacing, related deaths from vaccines in our children, irreversible and debilitating damage in our future generations... more and more of you are now faced with the ultimate question, "to vaccinate or not to vaccinate". Some of you are scared to make either decision. Remember fear is not of our Lord. Place your trust and faith in Him, and Him alone.

Back to the original question of this blog post.... Should there be a line drawn with how much or how far we go in our trust and faith in God? Should we tell our Father, "I trust you, Lord, however, I'm going to vaccinate because although I KNOW you can do all things, I don't really trust that can do ALL things."? Was that too harsh? I learned from my pastor. ;)

So, God has shown me, that though I did not initially seek His will out in making this decision, nor searched the Bible for tidbits of wisdom going forward, regardless, by putting ALL of my faith and trust in God, and yes, even (*gasp*) when it comes to the health of my children, that He has guided me in the correct way and for that, I am so grateful. I had a ton of conviction to make this decision, and now I know that I have my Father backing me.

I could go on in a million different rabbit trails with this subject, about the uncleanliness of ingredients (human aborted fetal tissues, monkey and pig DNA, formaldehyde, aluminum, mercury, etc, etc, etc) and pumping those chemicals and toxins into the temple of God, our bodies, and such. Or I could go on about the ruthless makers of vaccines and link up some statements made by their own people proving that they KNOW what these vaccines do to children, some who express remorse of "not being able to look mothers in the eye" and some who don't care as it's all about that "bottom dollar". (If you want the link, message me... it's not only eye opening but disgusting). But I will save that for the one who wants to know.

Overall, I encourage you Christian parents, seek God's Will, evaluate who and what you are putting your trust and faith in. There isn't a lukewarm answer here. It's either all in, or not at all. Just like you can't just follow the parts of the Bible you like the best, and you can't be a Christian only on the days when you're not hanging out with your friends, you can't put only some of your trust in God. You either trust Him, or you don't. Pray about it. Just as I made the mistake of not seeking God's Will about not vaccinating, have you sought God's Will on deciding TO vaccinate? Or did you do it because you were "careless in man" and they said so? It's time to evaluate, friends.

Until Next Time,
**Writers Note (upon feedback)** I have had the opportunity to hear some of my readers out after they have read this particular post, and as an afterthought, I would like to clarify some things... This has been my conviction. This is what God, I felt, woke me up to this particular morning. To get in the Word, to see what God wanted me to see about a highly controversial topic that I'm passionate about it. After hearing some trusted friends opinions, hearing how they have read this & what they took from it, I feel the need to get back in here & do some clarifying. Particularly in the area that seems most commonly received from the tone of my note above. I am not saying, in any way, shape, or form that if you DO vaccinate your children, then therefore, you must not trust God. I repeat, I want no one to walk away from this post defensive or confused, angry or offended, in any way. I am NOT suggesting that your faith in God, your trust in God is lacking if you have chosen vaccination in your family. I don't want to cause division among Christians, nor finger pointing. That was never my intentions, nor ever was my "way" of handling these topics. To clarify my intentions of writing this post: It was a personal & very deliberate, well researched decision for our family to not vaccinate. I never thought to myself as a Christian woman, "I should go to God and ask His Will on this subject". In making the decision to not vaccinate, I DID NOT TRUST GOD, nor put my faith in Him... I chose to put my faith & trust in the research I had done myself. I trusted my own decisions. I trusted myself, long before I even thought to ask God. Because He showed me the error of my own ways (good ol' conviction), I spent nearly a full day completely immersed in the Bible, studying God's perspective that I felt he was showing to me. If I could've done so, I would've written every scripture I happened across that affirmed my beliefs in not vaccinating our children... It was an entire pages worth of scripture. It was THAT thought provoking & consuming for me. In the same sense, my only intentions in writing this blog were to a.) Show others what I had learned, as far as what God showed ME for my family... (If it spoke to you on a personal level, I encourage you to follow those convictions, immerse yourself in God's Word & let Him show you on an individual level what to do, where to go from here, etc.) And b.) To create a thought-provoking question... "In the same manner that I was mistaken in not seeking God's will in our lives, not trusting Him in the decision to NOT vaccinate, have you sought God's will in the decision TO vaccinate, or were you 'like myself' careless in man, trusting blindly the decisions doctors & others had made for you, just because they said so?" I wrote this with a personal conviction, which applies to myself & our family... Again, if it struck a chord with you, pray, seek, devour God's Word searching for His answers in your own life. If you've read this & felt offended that I was insinuating that you didn't trust God if you vaccinate, please understand that those were feelings I did not intend to manufacture within you. I encourage you all to seek God's will, & upon doing so, deeply immersed in the Word, if you feel God is pulling you toward vaccination, then who am I to question that? I stand by my closing statement, to encourage you to seek God's will, evaluate who & what you are putting your trust & faith in... It's either all or nothing. No matter the conviction God puts in your heart. :) Have a great day!

Our Homeschool Room!!

Hi again,

Is it just me or is this year just flying right on by? I can't believe we are over halfway through the year, school will be starting in a month, and before I know it, all my babies will be turning another year older! Kailyn will be 6 in a month, Asilyn will be 8 in four months, and Justin will be 12 in 4 months! I feel like my life is a blur!

Speaking of school... this will be the first year I home school all three of the kiddos. I've had a year under my belt with homeschooling my son, that way he is accustomed to it as well as myself and I'm super excited to bring my girls home. I've had a mixture of emotions, mostly excitement and "nesting", but then there are days of doubt and uncertainty (of the unknown)... I'm sure once we get into a smooth routine, those fears will be forgotten. One day in my future I'll come back and read this blog and laugh at myself for my over analyzing. But at the moment... I'm doing all I can to prepare. The more I prepare the more confident I feel.

So, how does one prepare for something that one only has a vague knowledge of? Well, reading other homeschooling mom's blogs helps for sure. Getting ideas and kind of meshing those ideas to fit to our individual needs goes a long way as well. I won't fully know how these systems will work until we actually delve in, so anything I post doesn't come so much as a recommendation, more out of "hey, this is what we're trying... I'll let ya know how it goes".

My first and foremost priority was to get our schoolroom prepared to adding 2 more. So we went out and got identical desks to that of my son's (I've got to be matchy-matchy that way), putting them together as well as the chairs (I purchased the standard desk chairs that swivel... after having a few summer school lessons, I totally am starting to rethink that idea... oh, the rotating and rotating and rotating!)

My daughters' desk arrangements vary slightly from my son's, as he will be entering middle school (6th) this year and his lessons will require a different setup. On my girls desks, I have 2 filers that they will put each lesson's work in as they go. At the end of the school day, I can collect these papers, grade if needed and insert grades and school hours online. Best to focus on them during the day and all the admin work after. These particular desks have a shelving unit on the side, where the girls math cubes and helps are on the first shelf, and a fabric bin holding all of their literature needed throughout the school year (random books sent to us by their online school that aren't used on a daily basis- each girl has at least 20 aside from their regular lesson materials). This was a great way for me to not only separate each child's individual reading books, but to also keep them from getting mixed up with my own library of books (these will have to be returned at the end of the school year).

Take a look at Asilyn's desk...

...as you can see, she has her full name right in front of her, although she knows how to spell her name, she has misspelled her middle name a time or two, and this also marks this space as her own. It's also laminated, so it won't be easily ripped. Her 2 filers (which is holding her "summer journal" at the moment) which, as I said above, will hold her completed papers as she finishes each lesson. The 2 shelves on the right house the math cubes and helps and you can see the bottom fabric bin that is holding all of her "small" books she'll need throughout the school year. She also has her own trashcan. In all of the drawers, they each have a few sharpened pencils, an electric pencil sharpener, and an extra eraser. Pencils breaking or not being able to erase is probably their number ONE reason to get out of their seats multiple times an hour. This eliminates that excuse. :)

Here's Kailyn's desk:

Nearly identical. I have put the girls on opposing walls, so that their backs will be to one another during lessons. They are each other's own distraction. Her setup is the same including her own trash can. (On the very right is my teacher desk setup... it's currently a mess with papers that I have been going through and sorting that the girls brought home on their last day of public school... sigh... needless to say, my desk will be a post for another day.) I should also mention that beneath each desk, I have chair mats for their rolling chairs. They were a steal at my local bulk club!

And last but not least, Justin's desk:

His desk is slightly different. No filers for him, as the majority of his work will be done online, although he will have some book work, however he will have notebooks for each subject. He has a laptop to do his work on, uninterrupted by the girls when they have to do their online lessons (on my computer sitting at my desk). Again, his own trashcan as well. I haven't gotten his books yet so that's why his desk looks so lonely and empty inside. :) Not for long! For Justin, I obviously have not put a name tag above his desk... he's going in 6th... I'd be worried if he didn't know at least that... but we are utilizing the wall in front of him for helps. He still has last years items, however I don't think I will take them down just yet until I see his math load this year. He has a multiplication chart, a "Types of Graphs & Charts" chart, a Prime & Composite Numbers and their Factors chart he had done in 5th grade, Formulas/Definitions of Range, Mean, Median, & Mode, and finally, Formulas used to find Perimeter, Area, and Volume for several shapes and figures. Good helps to keep in front of him. He's got a photographic memory, and seeing & using these day in and day out will forever inbed in his memory (I hope).

Next we worked on the "library". I have been collecting children's to pre-teen's books now for 12 years. I've given about 500 of the younger aged books (as my daughter's grew) to our local nursery school... which helped in being able to house the rest of the books... But we are still pushing the limits on space. My "library" consists of a simple 5 shelf standing bookcase (that I have had for 15 years... and counting), and I have categorized the books as best as I can with so many. Here's a look:

The top shelf has Arts & Crafts books and materials, as well as small dictionaries & thesauruses ranging from kid's age to a pocket Webster. The second shelf is arranged with reading books, mostly in order by age/level range. The third shelf is comprised of a good bit of books that children would normally find and check out of their school library, again ranging in age/level. The fourth shelf houses interactive books, coloring books, educational workbooks, books of questions and answers as well as a large WildLife Fact-File (good for reports on specific animals or just to read about them). And the last shelf has a lot of their Bible materials, valuable Children's Books, as well as an eclectic mix of some very old original classics. Put a label above, and wa-laa, my library!

Next was creating a materials center. With homeschooling comes materials. Scissors, glue, crayons, markers, colored pencils, pencils, erasers, headphones, paper clips, tape, pens, paper (writing, notebook, loose leaf, construction, printer), staples & staplers... I mean if you just think about all the things that come with the responsibility of homeschooling... it can be overwhelming. So I needed to create a space, specifically for the kids, that they could have access to at any given time to get materials, especially without bothering a sibling who may be deep in concentration.

Here's what I came up with:

This is a simple, inexpensive shoe organizer. I had originally bought this to create a workbox system for my son last year and by the middle of the year, we had stopped using it. So I recycled. :) I had also bought some fabric bins that fit the shelves. I created tags with pictures of different materials, printed, laminated, and cut them. Then using sticky-back Velcro dots, I attached each tag to the box in which these materials would be.

For example,

The tags show a box of crayons and markers splayed out into a circle. Inside they will find.... markers and crayons. Can't get any simpler than that.

Another example,

Paper... my tag actually looks like a miniature piece of paper. I thought about using words... but since my children range in age (from one just learning how to read to one who has been reading since he was 3), I figured it would be best to begin with pictures.

And now, we move to the last part of my schoolroom that I'm going to show in this particular post. Our "morning board". I have seen some amazing morning boards on blogs from other homeschooling mom's! And while I think to myself (that would be awesome!) I have to keep in mind that I have varying degrees of ages and while making the date out of coins, or adding the numbers together may be fun to my youngest two, I could potentially be wasting valuable time with my middle schooler. Our morning routine (aside from the morning chores of making their beds and personal hygiene) will consist of choosing the helper for the day (who will pass out any papers, help with cooking lunch, help mom), changing the date, checking the weather, having a Bible lesson, memorizing a Bible verse together (one a week), saying our prayers (including praying for our sponsored child, Wilmita, in Haiti~whose picture is up on our board for us to remember), going over our address & phone number, as well as 911, and then saying the pledge of allegiance. That should be enough time used to put us into school mode... as well as giving God our first 10% of our day. :)

So here's my morning board, so far. It will probably look different by the time school actually starts, but this is it for now.

You can see Wimita at the top corner on the right, as well as our personal information (which I covered for the sake of our privacy on this post), and an actual calendar to help us see in advance events that may be coming up. At the bottom corner of the board is our weather tracking and below the entire board is our date, which I got the idea from another website.

A closer look:

As you can see, the first set of cards has my daughter's name (I can flip through the names each day to change the helper of the day). This will help everyone to remember who the helper of the day is. No arguments. Of course, we have the day of the week, the month, the date and the year. The helper will be in charge of making the changes to the morning board. You can see a closer look at the weather. Justin and I used this last year and he really seemed to enjoy taking note of the weather each morning on the way to take the girls to school so that he could make the necessary changes when we got home. So I think I will keep that up since I am positive my daughters will enjoy it as well. The helper will also be in charge of saying our morning prayer, as well as leading us in the pledge of allegiance.

So that's my schoolroom. A closer look at it anyway. Maybe tomorrow or sometime later this week or next, I can go over the system I am using to keep the kids on track and independently work on their lessons!

Overall, I am excited despite the few nervous jitters I get. I hope it all goes as smoothly as I want it to and I will definitely be keeping up with it. :) I will get the links from where I got the weather printouts and the date printouts when I get a chance and add it to this post. In the meantime, happy Wednesday everyone!

Until Next Time,

Organizing Chaos...?

Hello all,

As you may or may not know, having a family of 5 not only makes for a full house filled with laughter, tears, and the occasional scream-fest (mainly the little ones, although sometimes I feel compelled to join them), but it can also contribute to a full workload on any given day. Seriously, I could clothe several homeless families with the amount of laundry I do in a week. It is my normal though, and I honestly can't remember (but can dream of) a time less... busy.

With that said, I have found that the more organized we are, the better this house flows. Anything from shoe organization to organizing the bejeezus out of some closets. I admit to my own scream-fests when creating a system for something didn't manifest this brilliant eye-opening revelation to the world of organization (and keeping it organized) to the rest of my family. But alas, I try, try again until it either works (FINALLY!) or a better system took it's place.

Since it's been awhile since my last post, I thought I would use this little blogger site to not only release some of my creative juices, but to inspire myself to keep up with the job at hand (again... organizing) and possibly to inspire others who happen upon this blog (amongst the millions, right?) So, here goes nuthin'!

This post I'm going to dedicate to my daughters' room. They both share a room, the original master bedroom of our house (when we built it, we changed the plans to include negating a garage for a 400 sq ft room... and later installed a closet and bathroom in it to accommodate a 2nd master... hmm, maybe a post on that later?). So they have lots of space. Plenty of area to organize and make it their own while at the same time giving them a system that helps them not only keep their rooms clean, but also teach Independence in putting their clothing away and keeping their stuff intact. Let me preface that the object is not to create a system and poof! magically the room stays clean and all is well with the world. It does take consistency and persistence, patiently training them in how the system will work. It could take a week, it could take months! The key is consistency!

The first thing we did was eliminate the human nature of "if you can't see it, it must be clean" that all children and even some adults have. Had to tackle that "under the bed" syndrome. There was nothing more annoying than seeing a room "clean" and then go and take a look under that bedskirt (or bed) and see that you were deceived! So I asked my husband to build me something that would make under-bed-stuffing impossible, thereby eliminating any possible chance of a quick sweep under the bed & wa-laa clean, mommy! And, ever my faithful man, he created the perfect bed block. :)

A simple process, really. Since both of their beds have one side pushed against a wall, my husband created an L-shaped contraption and simply slid it underneath, using 1x6's (since their beds were 6 1/2" from the floor to the railing). No toys will be getting under those beds! (For my son's queen bed that is open on both sides, he created a boxed U-shape.) Throw on a bed skirt of your desired color choice...



...and no one is the wiser, except you, who will now never have to get on hands & knees to look under a bed again!

So, now, with that dilemma out of the way, we move on to the next hurdle... clothing, drawers, baskets... I, personally have the most horrible time at getting them to keep a drawer free from wadded up clothing and bits and pieces sticking out in all directions effectively preventing the actual closing of a drawer. A chest of drawers can really get under my skin, especially when I had to reorganize and refold everything, every time I went to put laundry away! In my daughters' room, they have 2 drawers. Period. Two drawers that I don't care about, because they hold pajamas. If they get unfolded, wadded up, or rolled... it's not gonna bother this mom right here, as long as those drawers shut. My son has a set of drawers that house play shirts, undies, socks & his pjs. Again, things that won't bother me if they come out a wrinkled mess. In a house full of chaos, I have to pick and choose my battles... drawers will not be one of them. ;)

Back to the girls' room. Like I said, they have a good bit of space, so I have utilized some shelving I got from an old friend that someone had built for her. They can't be that hard or expensive to make, or if money is of no concern, you could hop on over to your local IKEA and grab a set or two of these types of shelves. I also used a mix-match of baskets. I have found that baskets have helped in them organizing their clothes better, while at the same time minimizing the items that are folded. They have a nice sized closet, so most everything is hung. The less items they have access to, the better (as they have been known to change clothes 5 times a day or more for the sheer thrill of making their mommy crazy, I think). By the way (rabbit trail), we have a key-locked entry to the closet. Only myself or my husband has access to these keys which goes a LONG way in preventing the hair-pulling situations as described above. Back to the baskets, in the beginning, when they were just baskets, they would get just as cluttered as a drawer, simply because socks would be put in with the shorts basket, or undies would be mixed in 2 or 3 different baskets... it was a huge mess. No one ever knew what clothes went where, including my husband and myself after a time.

To eliminate this issue, I created, printed, laminated, punched holes in, and attached (using random ribbon I had on hand) these labels to each basket. Of course, as I have said in the preface, I had to go over each basket with the girls, walk them through the putting away of their clothes a time or two and reminding my youngest (who is just starting to master sounding out words) what they say. Consistency and persistence! And now we have an (more times than not) uncluttered system for their socks, undies, play shirts, shorts, and skirts.

Ah, a mom can breathe again. :)

Here's a pic of their pajama drawers, but before I link that up, this is an armoire that went with their beds, and inside houses their DVD and VHS players as well as a few of their coloring & reading books (I know it looks like more than a few, but when compared to about a thousand books that are in my homeschool room, it looks like a few to me) and a plastic bin labeled "Creative Arts" that holds random crayons, colored pencils, washable markers, a glue stick or two and kid-safe scissors (now that they are out of the "cutting their hair" stage).

As you can see, I even labeled the drawers. "Pajamas", no mistaking what belongs in there.

And now we move on to the last big hurdle. Yep, you guessed it. Toys. After cleaning and cleaning and cleaning... I would ask my daughters why they would empty out an entire bin of toys. Almost always their answer was that they were trying to get to small toys that had fallen to the bottom. It was just easier to flip the tub over than to meticulously pick through larger toys to get there. So this inspired me. I needed to make this easier on them to get to the toys they desire to play with at the moment but to also create a system that will help them organize their own collections, at the same time preventing this huge toy tornado on their floor! So I found some cheap plastic lidded-bins at Lowes and utilized the other part of the shelving unit I got from that old friend I had mentioned earlier. A bit of labeling and some clear packing tape....

...and now they have their own system for their toys. There is a general rule that I'm pretty strict about and it is that they only pull out one bin at a time, as they are now all categorized and shouldn't have need for more than one at a time. Of course, I make concessions for when we have company over, as I know how impossible it is to expect children from different families to abide by these rules, and also if there is something that they just "have to have" from another bin, then they can of course get the items they need. Simple rule, one bin at a time... if it's not put back up, the bin and everything that belongs in it is taken away for a time (I deem appropriate).

So that's about it... this is what works for us! Keeps me sane and in the game. Next post I'm sure will be about another room. Feel free to comment and tell me your ideas!

Until next time,

Homeschooling Hermit

So...

It's been awhile. Two years. I guess that is a testament to the busy life I have and the lack of desire and time to write. But I've come to the realization that I NEED this. So I am really going to try to make a better effort to blog more often, even if no one ever reads this.

There is no way I could possibly fill in the past two years, so I will put it in a neat, tidy, little package. Asilyn graduated Pre-K, flew through Kindergarten and is now finishing up her 1st grade year. Kailyn got the exact same teachers Asilyn had for Pre-K, graduated and is now finishing up her Kindergarten year (with Asilyn's same teachers she had for Kindergarten as well). Justin flew through his 3rd and 4th grade years at Stepping Stones when we came to the realization that they had offered him all they had and for him to effectively move forward, it was time for a change. My heart couldn't sync with the idea of him returning to public school, nor private school really. And so we made the decision to homeschool. I was a nervous wreck, but here we are, nearly done and I have so thoroughly enjoyed it that I have decided to homeschool the girls too, later this fall. Maybe I can make a blog in the next week or so about how I'm trying to accomplish that task without too many new gray hairs.

So there is the nutshell of what my life, I feel, has been revolved around the past 2 years. I get up every morning, I take 10 minutes to get myself ready and then get the kiddos up so that they can get ready as well. While they are getting themselves dressed, teeth brushed, hair gleaming, I am making my daughters their breakfast. Then we are off to school, I drop the girls off at their local elementary school and Justin and I head back to our classroom at home. (Which, by the way, I love. I'll make a blog about our classroom one day, with pictures). After our breakfast, we get straight to work and are usually in school (with a break or two in between) until lunchtime, and if we haven't finished all the lessons for the day we are back to the classroom after lunch. If we have completed the day's work, then we enjoy some outside time for exercise and some relax time before getting the girls from school. And that, my friends, is when life as I know it becomes chaotic. (I say that with a smile).  

I love having conversations with my children. They are so smart, and so innocent, and so refreshing. I don't have to impress them with my worldly knowledge. They just automatically think I'm amazing. They make me laugh every day of my life, and they keep me young. Why, just yesterday, we put on some spy kid gear, with these laser guns and ran around the house for an hour shooting each other, dodging laser beams, and hiding for ambush attacks. Amazing good fun.

But, there is a part of me, the adult part of me, that longs for interaction with peers. Playing kid games and having kid-level discussions and teaching kid-level lessons all fulfill me in a way, but never fully. It's the job I chose, yes. To be a sacrificial mother, literally giving my life for my children's, giving up any chance of having a job and friend dates and my own education for my children. Every time I make a new friend (which is rare, because really, it's not easy making friends in the local supermarket), and I think, finally, another stay at home mom, one that will be there and be available during the day, that friend gets a job. It's almost comical really.

Maybe I should start advertising to the unemployed women of my community. "Need a job? Befriend me, and you'll have one in 3.52 seconds!"

This should explain my sudden return to blogging. Hey, if I can't talk to actual adults out there in the real world, I can at least pretend I am. And I should point out that this is not to say that I have no friends. I don't want my friends to feel I am saying that at all! I know you are all busy. So am I. Probably too busy to actually have phone calls everyday. Doesn't change the desire to have them, but I know life gets in the way. So I have resorted to a blog release. I have plenty that goes on around here to fill a million pages. And that's just what I'll do. Hope you enjoy!

The Path of Least Resistance... untaken.

I think we all, as parents, go through that moment or two within our years of raising children when we feel like failures... like somehow someway we have failed our child(ren) in some manner, that if we somehow did it differently or took that advice that went unheeded, maybe they'd have been better off. Well, today is that day for me. I don't know what has gone wrong, where I didn't put forth enough effort or guide/lead in the correct way... but somewhere, I feel like I have failed my kids.

Today, as we returned home (Asilyn, Kailyn, and I), within minutes, my daughters were at blows with one another. Now I'm not saying that in all their years of being sisters they haven't fought or found the other annoying at some point. No, there definitely has been that in abundance. Today, however, was a little different. Today, there were fists to faces, hands pulling hair, screaming, crying... pure anger with one another. And as I'm breaking up this fight, pulling these two miniture people off of one another, I can't help but to think, where did I go wrong? At what point in my own discipline, my own teachings with them did they come to think that THIS was how to solve problems? I mean, I get it, I know they're 5 and 3... however, I know I didn't teach my children to hit in adversity, to rely on sheer force to get what you want... I KNOW I didn't!!! Yet somehow, here they are!! What did I do wrong?!?!?! Luckily they are young enough to guide and mold, and so with the instigator (surprisingly enough, Kailyn) in timeout and a little doctoring to Asilyn's face, I had a talk with both girls... deeply impressing upon them that this in NOT acceptable, that this doesn't solve the problem, it just made it worse!! My oldest daughter gets it I know, not so sure about the youngest, which is frustrating when she was the one behind the whole thing... but after an apology from Kailyn and a quiet "I forgive you" from Asilyn, a hug and a kiss later, they're now best friends again and all is right within their world.... except mine.

There goes my over-analysis of everything... trying to figure out the why of the situation rather than accept it for what it is and move on. One thing that does help me overcome my own feelings of failure is the thought of what God must go through several millions of times a day with us. I mean, we are all His children, and I imagine the love that we have for our own can only be compareable to a fraction of a fraction to the love He holds for us. Therefore in a sense would feel this feeling even more? Do you think He looks down on us when we think no one else can see what we're doing, watching us fall into sin after sin after sin by choice, willingly allowing the demons of this world to come into our lives, our home, our hearts... and feels a ping of regret? Just a feeling of "what did I do wrong? Did I not show you enough love? Did I not guide you in this way? Did I not bless you with all that you have? Where did I go wrong that would have you willingly CHOOSE this lifestyle?" No... probably not, because He HAS done everything to draw us closer to Him, but also gave free will so that we may choose him. He would have nothing to regret or second guess, more just a feeling of sadness that he wasn't chosen by us. That would be extremely painful for me, loving my children as much as I do, to love & provide for them all of their lives just to have them turn their backs on me, to not talk to me, to not accredit all I have done for them, as if I haven't done anything at all.... to blantantly say "yeah I know you raised me to behave like this, buuuuut I'm gonna do my own thing in my own time.... maybe later". That'd hurt doubtlessly. And yet even still, He loves us. As I still love my girls regardless of their behaviors and choices of today. But I'll, like Jesus, continue to hold out hope that one day, they'll fully comprehend what I've been trying to teach them all this time, that each lesson only brings them closer to a more prosperous life, that if the advice & guidance were heeded, Heaven awaits.

In the end, I guess the feeling of failures only makes a person want to try that much harder to get it right. For me, anyway. It's the moment when you give up that should draw the most concern, have a person looking within to find where the point of "not caring" came in, examine the demons you've willing allowed in your life and clean house! If ever there comes a point where they aren't worth the effort, that throwing in the towel seems more desireable than persisting in the lesson, just remember, and THANK GOD, that He never gave up on you! Up until our last breath on earth he is rooting in our corner, setting a path before you regardless of how many times we've taken the harder route, and never EVER said the words "I give up!"

Thanks for listening, and Until Next Time,

Highs & Lows... We All Have Them!

Wow, really?! And here I thought I'd be the professional blogger! To the contrary, 7 months in between posts definitely ranks me down to worst blogger ever! :) I don't know what brought this blog to mind, reminding me that updates have been few and far between, but I suddenly got the urge to just "type it out" this evening after the kids went to bed.


So where to begin? It's unbelieveable that it was August I last posted... and so much has happened that I can't possibly nor would I want to type out everything that has occurred, blogging-worthy moments that should have been captured in words. It would take me hours to do it, and I'm sure no one would sit here & read it either (well, besides me). But I can and will simply highlight over the high's and low's of what the past half year has been like for us.

The kids (both Justin & Asilyn) are doing great in school. Justin is now seemlessly working on multiplication and division and I swear it's as if the kid's been doing it all his life. I watch him work sometimes just looking at him in amazement because for the life of me I can't figure out how he came up with the answer, and so quickly! Math I truly believe will NEVER be a problem for him. In order to help him with sentence structure, we jokingly began writing Justin "letters"... originally it was meant to be funny, but then turned out to be altogether a learning experience for him. Because when I handed him a letter (just telling him how much I love him and am so proud of him) he actually wrote me a letter back, and surprisingly in good form. Now when he's mad or upset & he's crying or angry and I can't understand what he's saying, I'll tell him to go write it in a letter, and he will... which has a double intention behind it because unbeknownst to him, it actually calms him down & when he's handing me his letter, more often than not he's hiding a smile. All in all, he is doing awesome! His first report card came home with 1 B and the rest A's... we celebrated. Then his second report card came, and he brought that B up to an A as well... so, yes, my son has straight A's (keeping in mind some of his curriculum is on the 4th & 5th grade levels)!!! Impressive? Most definitely!



Asilyn, too, has blown us away, daily. She can read small words now, write her name, mom, dad, and "sounds out" the spelling of Kailyn & Justin. She gets pretty close! She can count to 100 (probably more but my patience can only go so far!) and she can count to 10 unassisted in Spanish. Daddy's planning on teaching them how to count to ten in Japanese also. I had a mid-year conference with Asilyn's teacher, showing me how far she had come since the beginning of the year, which was INCREDIBLE! And her teacher (as well as Tommy & I) have noticed not only a strong desire on Asilyn's part but an actual talent in art. So much so, that her artwork was selected over the entire school (along with 2 others, but their not my kids & I'm not bragging about them, now am I?) and was sent to the state to compete against all other schools in the state of GA, with a chance that her artwork would be chosen to be formatted into a book of art. :) So needless to say, we have nurtured her desire, which amazingly has brought some of my own desire back to take a pencil to hand. She has just about everything she could possibly need to flourish her artistic abilities.



Kailyn has learned a lot being home with me. I've been working on sight words with her now and trying to teach her letters by sight. She is such a doll and being home with her, man... she's my little buddy. She and I truly needed this time to bond without distractions. I've seen her confidence level skyrocket (not in approaching individuals - she's never had that problem, but rather her confidence in her own abilities, to be able to do things on her own and not rely soley on me or her older siblings to do it for her). And she's a snuggler.... oh my, this child, mmm, just typing this gets me all squenchy and ready to snuggle down. lol She's so cuddly! Like a little teddy bear! I made a commitment to begin the potty training once the other 2 were in school... which we worked on some last year but I quickly realized her lack of interest was working against me! So I stopped and began again in January right after Christmas and I can now officially say, SHE IS TRAINED! I honestly thought it would take longer, expecting about 6 months or so, but she surprised us all! She has been out of pull ups now for 3 months since "Santa" brought her a brand new potty seat & stool. And what's cool is, I barely even have to remind her now, she just.... goes! I love it. I never thought I'd get here, but here I am 9 and a half LONG years of constant diapers and pullups, we are now diaper/pullup free in this house. To celebrate we smashed the diaper genie to pieces and threw it in the dump! LOL


As for Tommy & I, we are doing great! Not pulling a John & Kate plus 8 moment with renewing our wedding vows on the beach during our 10 yr anniversary and then less than a year later, split. Nope! Not a chance! We have way too much good going on here to ever think life on the other side could possibly be better than what we have in each other. We are completely debt free now, a goal we set for ourselves a couple of years ago, and now we can officially say (beisdes the house) we have no debt. No credit cards, no car payments, no outstanding doctor bills. We paid everything off on our credit reports and now it's only uphill from here. We're taking a page out of his Grandfather & Grandmother's book and decided if we want something bad enough, we will save for it & buy it outright. (Which we're finding that in this economy, people are willing to negotiate a price down when there's cash in hand!) We just installed a brand new AC/heating unit, paid in full. It was nice to be able to write that check. We have the plans drawn up for our new master bath/closet addition in our bedroom and sometime within the week will have someone over, finding the plumbing lines, and preparing the space for the lines to be installed. And by our guess, within a few months our brand new bathroom and closet in our bedroom will be in, again, paid in full! It feels really nice! :) And once that's installed, we will be saving for our hardwood flooring, and new carpets in the bedrooms. Our guess, probably by the end of this year. One thing we did while on our annimoon, we brought along a recipe box with notecards, sat down one evening and wrote out goals and ambitions for our family, for our house, for our lives, for ourselves. Each notecard held a dream, that by putting it on paper made it more real than it had ever been by being a simple thought. Gave us something to physically look at, and by extention to look forward to. Who ever thought it would actually work? lol Because we hit the ground running that night, and continue to run side by side, hand in hand, checking off the list of our life's dreams. :)


So, now the high's have been touched on, the lows are few but they are there. Mainly to do with illness and the like. Having children in school is ridiculous sometimes. They might as well swim in a public pool, with 50 other children, or lick the floors of the mall... it's a walking infestation. It drives me NUTS! Justin and Asilyn out of nowhere came down with fevers, sometimes as high as 104.7*. Yes, extremely high. But the odd thing about it was that's all it was. A fever. Out of nowhere, one second literally, they're running & playing, the next they're flushed and can't understand why they feel so tired. No other symptoms. I thought I had it pegged down to teething. What?! Yes, I know, you're thinking a 9 and 5 year old teething?! Yes, Justin has his last set of molars he needs to get in (and as his gums are swollen, they are most definitely on the way), and Asilyn is working on her first set of molars. Lucky me! :) But as I said "I thought I had it pegged"... leaving room for error. It may have been completely coincidental that they ran fevers just as both of their gums were swelling with the movement of new teeth, and logically it would make sense... until I came down with this random high fever. Literally out of nowhere, midday, boom! Fever. My highest coming in around 105.4*. But that was it. No sniffling, no coughing, no stuffy head. Not even a headache (unless the fever skyrocketed to the higher temp). It was the weirdest thing. Which completely turned my thoughts back to the kids. It thankfully only lasted at most 2 days. And it left just as quickly as it came. Just odd. And then, my sweet baby Kailyn contracted Pink Eye more than likely from a child at church (which is so annoying, but that's a topic for another blog day)... along with a sinus infection of some sort, and I leave that one open ended because the doc couldn't really peg down the reason behind the stuffy nose & sore throat. (Ahem... allergies maybe? Aaaaaaanyway...) So she got the typical eye drops 4 times a day (which is a pain, if you have a young one & have had to do this then you KNOW), along with the lovely pink antibiotic 3 times a day. But her being at home with me... not so hard. Until....... oh yes, it gets better.... I was snuggling Asilyn one day before bedtime (last Friday to be exact) and I happened to look at one of her hands. And then I looked at both of her hands. And then I proceeded to jump out of my bed, grab her hands and hold them closer to the light while yelling Tommy's name. There on my daughters hands, covering the entire top part and trailing halfway down her fingers, creeping up her arms was this God awful, blood red, dry, sandpaper like feeling, painful (for her) to the touch, swollen rash..... I had never ever seen anything like it in my life... ever! I was freaking out. I may have freaked out a little too much, I'm sure Tommy would agree with me. LOL I tend not to let the children see me freak, so I waited until I had walked out of the room to freak. I grabbed the first topical cream I could find which was Cortisone, rubbed a little on both her hands and IMMEDIATELY washed it off when the blood-curdling screams from my daughter told me it was burning her skin! (If I thought I was freaking before, I was wrong...) So along with causing her pain on top of pain (as now I'm rubbing the skin with my fingers under water which hurts), my mind is running. I think every mom goes through this... most probably end up calling the doctor or local ER... or even their own parents for advice. And all thoughts crossed my mind, but one being the most prominent, I had to help her someway somehow, NOW. So I grabbed some benadryl cream (she's allergic to everything so I thought it was a reaction to something), and gently rubbed it into her skin, and proceeded to do so for the next couple of days, making the promise to myself that if it got worse or stayed the same, I would call the doctor. Luckily it got better. Long story short, I checked her out of school on Monday & took her to the pediatrician. At first they thought she had strep, which was really odd to me... missing THAT connection, but whatever, they're medical "professionals", right? But after testing her & confirming that it was not strep, the doctor came in and let me know that my child, my baby girl, my Asilyn Brooke, has Dishidrotic Eczema, an uncommon (rare) form of Eczema which could potentially affect her for the rest of her life. It only occurs in 20 out of 100,000 people. Which is a fraction of a single percent out of the entire world. In other words, my baby is special... inside & out. Literally. But what it TRULY means, is that she will more than likely every year have this reaction to the warmer weather change, she will have to change lotions, and BE lotioned on the upscale of 4 times a day, she will have to change her soaps to be frangrance free for extra dry sensitive skin, she will not be allowed to be in the bath for longer than 5 minutes as the chemicals used to filter the water will dry her skin out more quickly... right now she has a steroidial-topical cream that I have to put on her every morning before school (along with a full body lotion-up) and every night before bed. Add that to the other 2 times I have to lotion her up with Kailyn's eye drops 4 times a day and antibiotics 3 times a day and showers/baths (less than 5 min now).... it's been the longest week and a half of hell. Seriously. I haven't wanted to go anywhere, do anything, see anybody, much less take a shower for myself. It now has become a chore, just something else I have to do daily. LOL I'm exhausted.


So now that we're all caught up, I'll end this by saying, regardless of the lows my life has, regardless of the highs that may come our way, my life would never be as fulfilling without the people in it. My husband, who is my best friend, is everyone of those cliche sayings and then some... ridiculously loyal, protective, fierce, and everything I could ever want in a life partner. My children are beyond the most precious blessings God has granted me the responsibility of raising. That He would trust me with these three little people's welfare, their health, their upbringing, that He would trust that I would do everything that I am required to do as their mother, be THEIR advocate, to be THEIR voice, to be THEIR mom! It amazes me daily that He has given me such a huge and great responsibility... He must have known I could handle it. For He never gives more than we can handle. And without these 4 people in my life, I would have never felt the true meaning to life, what it's all about, what's important and what's not so much... I would've never found my own voice, my own legs to stand on, and now, to them, I feel like I am the most important person in their world. And that's an awesome feeling. :)


Until Next Time,