You know you're a home school mom when...

I love home schooling...everything about it. I came across this list on someones blog and I found it very funny. My kids laughed out loud at several of them. We hope you enjoy it too!

You Know You're A Home school Mom When...
-You get to change more than diapers, you get to change their minds.
-When a child busts a lip, and after seeing she's okay, you round up some scotch tape to capture some blood and look at it under the microscope!
-Your children never ever leave the "why?" stage.
-When your teenager decides to take one community college course, and comes home and asks you why the teacher wrote "At" on his paper. (A+)
-Your kids think reading history is best accomplished while lying on the floor with their head resting on the side of their patient dog.
-Your husband can walk in at the end of a long day and tell how the science experiment went just by looking at the house.
-You never have to drive your child's forgotten lunch to school.
-The only debate about the school lunch program is whose turn it is to cook.
-If your child gets drugs at school, it's probably Tylenol.
-Your neighbors think you are insane.
-You have meal worms growing in a container....on purpose.
-If you get caught talking to yourself, you can claim you're having a PTA meeting.
-You take off for a teacher in-service day because the principal needs clean underwear.
-You can't make it through a movie without pointing out the historical inaccuracies.
-If your child claims that the dog ate his homework, you can ask the dog.
-You can't make it through the grocery produce department without asking your preschooler the name and color of every vegetable.
-You can't put your produce in your cart without asking your older student to estimate it's weight and verify accuracy.
-You try to (quickly) capture the huge bee that was knocked unconscious as it accidentally flew into your car window, so the kids can classify and inspect it.
-The walls of your dining room are decorated with posters of the US Presidents, Periodic Table of Elements, Map of the Moon, Spanish Conjugation Chart and a copy of the Declaration of Independence, not to mention a poster of the Ten Commandments since no one can tell you not to!
-You have children draped all over the furniture....and they're reading...for the FUN of it!
-Your children actually enjoy spending time with their family, even their siblings!
-Your children aren't embarrassed to be seen playing with someone younger than they are!
-You are on a first name basis with the majority of local librarians.
-You've laughed out loud when someone asked you "What about socialization?"

Preparing for rain...

I saw a movie this weekend that really touched my heart in a special way. It's called "Facing the Giants". It's not a new movie and it has a predictable ending, but the message is outstanding. In a part of the movie, the football coach and a man are talking about two farmers who both needed and prayed for rain. The man tells the coach that only one of the men received the rain even though they both prayed for rain. He asked the coach who he thought received the rain. The coach answered "the one who went out and prepared his fields to receive it". The pastor asked him "which one are you?"



This past week was discouraging for us in many ways. We have told our adoption agency that we very much wanted twins or a younger siblings group. Our agency told us it is rare for twins as well as younger siblings group and that we needed to be open for the fact that we would probably receive a single child. As we are very open for just one child, I cannot help the fact that God has really laid two Ethiopian children upon my heart. This movie reminded me not to lose faith in God's will, no matter what the "giants" may say to you. I serve a bigger God than any man and if it is his will for us to have two children than we will. So for now, I am stepping out in faith and praising God in whatever he chooses for us. I'm going to "prepare my fields for rain".

I love to run...

Truth be told, I love to run. I love everything about it. I love the fact that you're outside with the wind in your face and moving toward a goal. For me I guess it's like a mind game. I'm going to run to the lampost...then you run to the next lampost and so on.

I turn 40 this year and my goal is to run a marathon in October. Crazy sounding, I know...but I don't want to jump out of a plane or anything. I just want to run for 5 hours and go 26 miles. (O.k., putting it that way it is a little crazy... but I am determined). I have a fantastic running partner, my 7 month old Vizsla puppy. She has boundless energy and is built to move. I believe she loves it as much as I do.

I liken this adoption to a marathon. You can't run one overnight and it takes months of training (paperwork, actually). You have to make it to one "lampost" in order to make it to another one and another. So as I train here in the states for my marathon, I can't help but think that I am getting closer to my Ethiopian finish line...even if it's just one lampost at a time.

In the blink of an eye...

My son turned 11 this week.

I remember when I woke up my husband to say that "it was time" to go to the hospital. It took 22 hours of labor to get my 10 lb. baby boy into this world. I remember falling in love with him the moment I saw him. I remember his first words and his first steps. I remember crying along with him at all of his immunizations. I remember all the laughter and the tears we have had. What I don't remember is where the time all went.

In the blink of an eye, eleven years have past...and my baby boy grew up.

Progress...slow, but it's progress

Many people have asked us lately about the progress of our adoption. As of today, we have filled out the TONS OF QUESTIONS needed for the homestudy and are now waiting on one thing...the FBI fingerprint report to come in. Nothing like waiting on the government to hurry..."ain't happenin' fast".

On a positive note, some progress is being made. Our social worker has contacted us and we have scheduled our two visits with her (one in the office and one in our home) to be made this month. Also, we are taking our 2 of the 3 needed "parents in process" training classes needed next weekend. Ahhh...progress...it made be little slow but we're moving closer to our goal. As my father would often tell me..."never take your eye off the ball". So with a little luck and a whole lot of prayers we hope that the homestudy is done sometime the end of this month, early next month. Then it's on to the next thing....the dossier.

My little snow angels

We woke up the other morning to yet another 5-6 inches of snow. Yippee!! were the shouts from the kids...ugh! came from my direction. The kids saw the endless possibilities of snowmen, sledding, forts and snow angels. I could only see the pulling out the snowblower yet again and my hands and feet frozen by the time I'm done. Kids see the world as kind of a "glass is half full" (of hot chocolate that is...). I think we forget to take the time to just remember what it's like...to plop down in the yard, spread out your arms and legs and make that snow angel. (Even if your neighbor thinks your crazy...truly, they're just wishing that they had the guts to do it too!)

May God always grant me the ability to see the world through the eyes of my snow angels...

The one that no one ever saw...

Our Christmas photo this year was a fluke, really. You see, I posed all the kids (our 6 month old puppy included) in front of our beautiful tree in their Sunday best, combed hair and smoothed out all the wrinkles in their clothes. What many people fail to realize is that I take probably 30 pictures or more in order to get "the one". After 10 seconds my 4 year old is tired and plops down on the floor, followed by the puppy. At 15 seconds the older kids are flopping down begging for this "photo session" to be done. And at 20 seconds it's chaos...that's the picture that no one ever sees. And every year that's the one I love the most!