Summer Activities

As a home school family, the school year can be pretty busy.  To manage academia, housework, preschoolers and commitments can be exhausting.  Everything has to fall under a priority list, there is just not enough time to do it all.  There is a lot that I have to say "no" to because there are other priorities to keep.
That's why I love summertime!  Sure, we still do review work, reading comprehension and writing but the lack of rigorous teaching lends way to some serious fun!  

Like...

Summer book reading clubs!  What a great incentive through the local library systems to utilize! You mean, you get prizes for reading!  Jacob filled his goal of 60 books within the first month of signing up for the book club.  Nathan (seen here) is still working on his, but I am thankful that it has peaked his interest for books that consist of more than 5 pages!

and...

swim lessons...

and...

the beach...

and...

blueberry picking...and...eating!

and...

Vacation Bible School

Whew...that's a lot of fun so far!

Summer Lego Challenge

Lego Quest

For the summer, I am trying to engage the boys in creative, fun and educational activities.  This one fit the bill. Each week there is a new challenge to build, create and develop a creation with legos for a certain purpose.  This week the challenge was buoyancy.  To invent something with legos to be able to float.  Nathan was extremely frustrated with the idea that it had to float so I resorted to "just build anything!"  Jacob was excited by the challenge but ultimately became frustrated when he opted for the mega blocks which wouldn't hold together.  In the end he was able to create a "house boat" that was able to float. We did a little study on buoyancy to better understand the how and why. Here is what he created...

 Have fun this summer...we are!

Remembering Our Vows

This week for the “Completing Him Challenge”, we are remembering our vows and the sacredness of this day.

                                   Completing Him Challenge

When I think of the vows Ian and I made to each other, I remember the witnesses we had to that blessed event.  Our family, friends and pastors all gathered to affirm our union to each other.  They served as witnesses to remind us of the covenant we made between each other. As the years have gone by, individuals, as they promised to, have walked along us to remind us of the vows they witnessed.

More importantly, we were making our vows before God.  We took them very seriously.  We vowed to love, serve and honor each other “till death do us part”.  What does that mean? It meant that we took Matthew 19:6 very seriously.

“So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."

It meant that we took Ephesians 5:22-33 seriously and remembered that marriage is a picture of Christ and the church.  We didn’t fully understand then what that would mean, nevertheless, we believed in God’s design and His promises for marriage.  Considering our vows now, in a time when America rates #1 in divorce rates around the world, encourages me to remember God’s truth in His revealed Word and not the trends of modern times.

I am thankful that our marriage vows mean something and that we were surrounded by witnesses who loved us.  Most of all, I am grateful for the abundant grace from Jesus to continue to love, serve and honor each other, even when we don’t want to.

Unvieling...

Here it is...the secret project I've been working so hard on.

I made this quilt for a most loved Grammy in honor of  the celebration of her 45th wedding anniversary.  Each individual square was designed and decorated by every one of her 17 grandchildren (except for the newest little baby Naomi).

 Grammy is a treasured prayer warrior and prays for each one of her children and grandchildren by name.  Now she has a special piece of each of them to hold as she remembers them in prayer.  We love you Grammy.

It's Week #1 of the Completing Him Challenge. If you are a blogger - share your dating pictures and story (save the wedding ones for next week!).


Consider: How much time do you spend on a daily/weekly basis cultivating your marriage now? In what ways can you regain some of what has been lost in the daily shuffle of life?
Purpose this week to do something that reminds your husband of the youthful wife you once were - maybe it's wearing something you know he loves on you (remember we dressed to please back in those dating days!), go somewhere you both used to enjoy going together - alone!, look at photos together of the "good ol'days", watch a favorite movie, or just simply sit together talking, listening, dreaming, holding hands, rubbing his back, and simply paying attention to the amazing husband of your youth! Treasure him this week!
http://womenlivingwell-courtney.blogspot.com/2010/06/completing-him-challenge-begins-today.html 


Here's our dating story!

    Ian and I met when I was 17 and he, 18.  Our mutual best friends, Scott and Katie, had invited us to go on a trip to Lake Mohave  in Arizona with them.  As I remember it, that was a really difficult summer for me.  I had just come back home from my step brothers funeral in Montana. Chris was 18, engaged and just graduated when he died in a motorcycle accident. It was devastating to our whole family.  By God's grace, we were all pulling through together.  The invitation from my sweet friend, Katie, came at a time when I really needed to be with friends. I'm not sure how many of the people in our party knew what I was suffering with but I don't remember having to dwell on it much.
    We had the greatest time on that trip.  I wish I could say that I was wooed with affection, kindness and tenderness but Ian was nothing short of a nuisance. He couldn't wait to play a prank and make everyone laugh.  14 years later, not much has changed!  We went our separate ways, I not giving much thought to him. I was preparing for my senior year of high school and he was headed to boot camp with the Army.
    The summer that started on a bad note, ended on a bad note.  On the first day back, to my last year of school, something terrible happened.  The school bus my sister and I were riding on, crashed in the median of the interstate. The bus driver over corrected and sent all of us hurling across multiple lanes of traffic. When the dust settled, it was apparent that the bus had landed and my leg had gone out through a window and was pinned under the bus.  I spent a week in the hospital and several months recovering from the accident.
   With a prompting from Katie's mom, I wrote Ian a real letter (this was before email, that shows how old I am) with an article about the accident.  We began a treasured season of getting to know each other through our correspondences. I just remember waiting eagerly at the mailbox for each letter. What a sweet time that was to get to know each other without the typical physical temptations.  We had decided that we would meet up when he came home for a Thanksgiving break.  However, Thanksgiving came and went without so much as a phone call from Ian. My heart was so sad and I felt a lose of a great friend.  Ian later explained that he began reading the book I Kissed Dating Goodbye, and that he felt compelled to pursue courtships and not a dating relationship, blah, blah, blah. I was a teenage girl with my first broken heart.  Here began a very distant season.
   Time went by, he at school in New Mexico and I at school in Northern Arizona. A few years later, our paths crossed again at a sports event.  When I saw him again, I knew, I had lingering anger and bitterness over the situation. I asked if we could meet sometime. Then, we were able to resolve our differences and move on as friends.  We took swing dance classes together, played water polo and talked over frozen yogurt. (Still our favorite treat).  Somehow, feelings of affection developed rapidly.  Now begins the butterfly feeling season.
   Katie, and her fiance, Joel, Ian's brother, invited us to go to California with them.  This trip with Ian, he was nothing short of a gentleman. He took care of everything, treated me with such tenderness and kindness and considered me in every decision.  He was so thoughtful at every turn.  He made me laugh all the time.  We had so much fun together.  I remember being in the back seat with Katie and she asked, "so what do you think about Ian?".  My answer to her was "I could see myself marrying this man."  My answer shocked me as much as it shocked her.  That was the beginning of our lives together.  We dated for another 4 months, got engaged and were married 9 months later.

 

Completing Him Challenge

 

http://womenlivingwell-courtney.blogspot.com/search/label/Marriage%20Challenge

 On a fellow homeschool mom's page, I found this challenge.  A summer exercise to strengthen my God-given role as a wife to be a helper to my husband, Ian.  This is the second time this week I have been challenged to focus on serving my husband.  I know the Lord is working on my heart specifically in this area.  The first time I was asked to focus on Colossians 3:18...       "Wives submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord".

I admit this has always been a struggle for me to do well.  It is my desire to help, serve and submit to my husband because it is actually the Lord I am serving in this, but my sin hinders me from doing it well.  It is something I want to grow in and not just for eye-service but with a genuine heart.

So here it goes.   I pray the Lord will bless this time and strengthen me in my role as wife through this challenge.

secret project shhhh...

I'm working on a secret project...

can you guess what it is...

It's about to be unveiled very soon! More to come when the lucky recipient receives it.

A Different Perspective

Today I was encouraged by a mother who approached me at swim lessons.  She started our conversation by asking if the three boys she saw were mine.  First I checked to see if they were behaving or not to determine my answer.  When I saw they were all perfectly content and in good form, I admitted to being their mother.  She went on to tell me that see too was a mother of three boys. To which I replied "then you know my pain". At which point we both chuckled.  What she said afterward encouraged my heart for the rest of this parenting journey.  She sighed and said "there's so much I miss about them being that little".  Her youngest was with her and as a mature teenager, it indeed had been a long time since he was little. In the busy-ness of these days, sometimes I forget to slow down and enjoy these precious, fleeting moments with them.  She went on to reaffirm what I've already learned about boys, they love their mamas with a special love and if you raise them right, they will forever.  We shared a bond with each other  as we talked about the difficulties in raising three boys.  She told me not to feel alone just because the day is hard.  We left the conversation with a ceremonial, "it's the best isn't it?"  As I watched her walk over to her almost grown son, I saw him hug her so tenderly and speak to her so softly and I thought to myself "someday, that will be me with my almost grown sons". Until then, I am going to enjoy these days with them before I find myself saying "I miss those days".