Life happens when we're not paying attention!!

Well, Hey Y'all!!!

It's been a minute since I last posted...SO much life has happened. 

Tragedy and triumph.

Loss and gain.

Death and life.

It would take me ages to sort out the whole story so let's suffice to say....it's good to be back!!! 

I've been doing things..... lots of things.

I'm now considered a "professional" photographer!!! Although, I still have so much to learn! Since I have been paid for (many) jobs that seems to make one a professional. Who knew?!?! 

I also have a website (with a blog that is also neglected) where I post my work. I'll post a link in a later blog. 

I also started working outside of our home!!! O.o  That's probably the biggest change for me!!! The Army decided they needed my husband in a different place. An hour and fifteen minute  drive form our home!! =/ That change along with the actual job change put our budget in a deficit for a while there!!! It was tough at first, but we adjusted, made some changes and I started working part time. We didn't love it, but it helped.  There is not much funny in this story, but our family has had some really good times together these past few years!!! 

My oldest child is now a National Guard soldier!!!! He graduated (homeschool) high school (early)(because he worked hard!) and shipped to Basic training in April!!  Since he is National Guard he is now home and working on getting his college stuff going. The Army does not make it easy, but he is making progress!! It is important to us that he gets his college in before joining full time. He wants to be an officer one day and this is the best way for him to reach his goals!!! 

My middle child continues her pursuit of musical knowledge and writing prowess!! She is so talented!!! I could listen to her play the piano all day!! She is also teaching herself the guitar, ukulele and cello!!! There is no boundary to what she can accomplish when she sets her mind to it!!!  She still has a desire to be a fireman. She is finishing up her latest book. 90,000+ words. 350+ typewritten pages!!!!  She is discovering she enjoys science, through the fabulous teachings of my sciencey friend!!! 

My baby boy is still the same fun loving kid as he has always been  just taller, much taller!!! He enjoys mentioning that he is taller than me frequently!!  It's adorable!! He was the shortest of us for so long and very recently has grown past me and his sister!!! He has discovered a love for classical music!! Playing it on the piano and listening to it while doing math or whatever!!! I couldn't be happier!!! I share a love a classical music with my dad and now with my son!! =) 

We had a few pet additions to our family as well, but they deserve their own blog so I'll save their intro for another time!!!

Blessings!!! 

Kid Camping!!!!

Today is a beautiful day here in South Alabama.......Lower 80's. No humidity. Perfect fall day!!

I know our country is in a mess and there is a tropical storm out in the gulf, but here at our house we are getting ready for yard camping!!!!

It's the simple things that keep my kids happy.  They don't care (right now) who is to blame for the mess we are in. They don't care (right now) that our country is broken and things will drastically have to change in order to repair the damage. They don't care (right now) that Republicans and Democrats are so opposed and have such opposite views of where our country should go that their future of freedoms (and the future of all children)  is in jeopardy.

Today, the only thing they care about is that they get to use the "big tent" tonight while they are camping in our yard.

I love that. I love that they hear the news, they know the Government is "shut down", they asked if their daddy (active military) still had a job..... If we would keep our house....Why the commissary in our area is closed.
They are not uninformed, they are innocent. They have faith in our God and in our government to be able to "fix" things.
~~~~~~~~~

My kids have always loved the outdoors. They are camping enthusiast. So why not let them camp in the yard any Friday they want!!The whole point of getting 6.5 acres was to enjoy and use it!!

We home school so I can also make this a lesson in working together, fire building, cooking, nature, weather...the list is endless...
I chose to do homeschooling year around this year so that we could take seemingly random (but planned) days off!!! There is so much more to learning than textbooks. I like to call one of our classes "Life-skills class".
My children will be adults one day. Everything we do now molds them in to the adults they will be!!! I do not want them to only be able to do "book work", I want them to be able to live. I want them to be able to budget, clean, organize , participate, engage, help, learn, volunteer, donate, grow spiritually, repair things....again, the list is endless, but if I don't give them opportunities to do these things as children how will they learn and expect to do them as adults?!?!!!

So today we camp!!! Well, the kids do! I will be inside, snuggling in my comfy bed and staying up late watching a movie with my hubby!!!!!  It may be a "13th Warrior" (one of our favorite movies!!) kind of night!!!! =)


Blessings!!!

Back online!!!

We have had a very crazy summer!!

*My month away from the internet turned into 3+ months of sporadic use and I am still quite sporadic!!  I must say though, I found that I did not miss the connection to the "world" as much as I thought I would!!!  My kids really missed their games at first, but by the second week they were all about playing together outside, inside, everywhere!! It was lovely!!!

*The church where we are members purchased an old daycare building and invited a team missionary builders to come renovate it to make it more suitable for a church building!!  We (my family and many of our church members!!) have been volunteering manual labor as much as possible as there were only 6 people on the team!! We got to demolish, clean-up, help with plumbing prep, clean, do some painting, help with wood trim, clean some more, help with building the stage, organize a bit, clean and sing at the dedication service!! We are in our new building and loving every minute of it!! =)

*Our garden was pretty much a flop. We had high hopes for a good yield, but it was not to be. We had record amounts of rain which in one sense was good because we have been in a drought for years, but there was hardly any sunshine and our tender little heirloom garden just did not adjust to the extreme conditions. We will try again next year...

*Our chickens are finally laying eggs!!!! The moment we had been waiting for for 20+ weeks finally arrived and we couldn't be more pleased!!! My daughter has tenderly cared for these chickens since we received the in the mail!! She was so completely excited to get that first egg!!! She got to eat it and she declared it better than a store bought egg!! I agree with her!!

*The bees did beautifully!!! We were able to harvest close to 2.5 gallons of honey this year!!! We thought that was pretty good for our first year!!! =)

*We started back to homeschooling on July 15th. It has been a challenge to get my kids on board with year-round  school. But this week we are having a family vacation in the mountains and I think they are catching on to the reason why I chose to do it this year!! They are good kids and hardly ever complain!! I am one blessed mama!!!! =)

Blessings!!!