Random Thoughts

Life continues to be busy.

Recently bought a 34-foot RV and an Excursion to pull it (pictures to come). Rob sacrificed his "city-boy" truck for it (my Explorer wasn't worth much) and thus, we're missing a truck.:( We really depended on it too as we used it for hauling, dirt, hay for Molly, milk coolers for our co-op, wood, taking bikes to the park, etc. However, as a family we didn't fit well in it legally (shh!) and we needed a larger car as it was getting to be a tight squeeze in my Explorer. We also needed a large something to haul our "house on wheels". Sometimes we'll refer to our new car as "The School Bus". :) How appropriate, huh?! Rob's got his eye on a future truck that looks like this...

The good news is that we found a local feed store that will deliver (for chump change) feed and hay to our front door so I don't have to haul it in our non-truck. Our co-op milk orders are now delivered so we don't have to load coolers and 4 kids to pick it up each week. The best part about our new car was that we have zero payments. It's 11 years old and the dealership swapped out Rob's truck for the Excursion. We've worked so hard to become debt-free that having a car with payments wasn't an option for us. The Lord worked it out perfectly! We had no doubt.


Our good friends have taken over the dairy and are still adjusting, but adjusting well. We spent the past weekend there and helped process 50 broilers. I also got to help with the milking which was awesome. It was intimidating at first as you're commanding these 1,000 lb. to 1,800 lb. beasts to line up and stay still as you're cleaning them and placing milking machines on them. Then you have to keep track of who's done, who has to go back out to pasture, who's name is who's, who is trying to steal another's food, etc., etc., etc. It was awesome and I was in my element! Their oldest daughter took me out on a tour of the pasture where we met each cow. I tried to learn each cow's name and temperament. The wind was so strong and I was carrying Isaac on my back (he was sleeping). It was beautiful. It's always hard to leave as we look forward to going back. However, we're definitely glad to be done with the chickens. We don't want to process another chicken for a LONG time! Fifty was just a lot.

Getting excited about the upcoming homeschool conference. There are a ton of exciting workshops being offered this year. I always try to encourage non-homeschool families as well as homeschool families to attend. There are so many great parenting workshops regarding discipline and spiritual growth. The resources available in the resource hall are fantastic and there's NO SHIPPING. So, let's clarify...you don't have to be a homeschool parent to gain from this fabulous event. Go for it! We'll be packing up the RV and camping there. The kids are excited to attend this year as I've gone with girlfriends the past two years. We'll be camping and Rob and I will juggle trading off watching kiddos as we've each picked out workshops we want to attend. Everyone is really looking forward to it.

In a slump regarding school curriculum. Although there are some curriculums out there that I think are simply fabulous, the reality of teaching four children using the curriculum just isn't realistic. I keep coming back to A Beka. I don't like the fact that they're reproducibles (b/c I do have 4 children I'll eventually buy for), but they're colorful, the Scope and Sequence is flawless, the repetition is the perfect amount and I'm partial because I was raised on A Beka. I know I can realistically teach four children with it too. Keeping all four on the same curriculum allows the older children to help teach the younger too because they can recall when they learned a concept themselves. I've already seen much of this mentorship take place with these guys and it's amazing! Avonlea loves helping Lincoln with his reading while I work with Norah and Lincoln loves teaching Norah her alphabet, colors and numbers while I work with Avonlea. They take such ownership and really enjoy being "the teacher" for a change.

So much more to share, but it's late and this mama needs some rest. Have a great day tomorrow! Blessings to you all. Goodnight.