My Seven from Heaven...

On the Home Front

Just a little catch-up on the home front here...

We just started our 11th year of homeschooling. My students this year are Dan (6th grade), Max (4th grade), Tommy (1st grade), and Eden (K4). Joshua is 2 and just doot-doots around. We joined a Co-op that meets once a week. I am teaching history to the 3rd-4th graders. The kids are getting a lot of out it so far.

Celeste (19) is taking classes at Sante Fe College. Her proposed major is secondary education. She is very interested in teaching high school history. Currently, she is volunteering in a 2nd grade classroom. Next month she will have been working for Publix for 2 years. She is a cashier and a bagger for them. Celeste is involved with RUF (Reformed University Fellowship) and loves it! This college youth is sponsored by the Presbyterian Church and they have chapters on many campuses. Celeste is living at home right now, so we have 7 children at home.

Jamie (16) is a junior at the local, rural high school. He finished last year with a 4.2 GPA and has just been inducted into the National Honor Society. He is taking very challenging classes this year which include: AP U.S. History, AP Language, Chemistry Honors, Pre-calculus, Spanish 2, and Culinary 3. He's very active in church youth and is going to be playing guitar for them during youth group. Also, he works as a ref at the local paint ball park.

My husband, Stuart, has his federal firearms license and owns a gun shop. Also, he makes custom holsters. It has gotten a bit busier, of late, which is good! We are attending a new church and loving it. The ladies are meeting tonight for a coffee house and I am really looking forward to it. It's nice to recharge my batteries. Being a mother and wife is so demanding--even more so when you homeschool and have a large family.

A couple of extra thoughts--Eden is taking ballet and loving it! She is a girlie girl for sure. Joshua is just a riot. He finally says "yes" when he means "yes" now. It comes out, "Zess." He LOVES the garbage man! Mondays and Thursdays he is quite excited when they come in the morning and back down our street. His delight in this simple thing is precious!

We are still mourning our precious daughter, Kara Faith. Today I am thinking on her quite a bit. I want to order her heart-shaped headstone, but we haven't don that yet. I remember being pregnant this time last year and how that felt. She was safely tucked inside. Things have settled down now. Less people respond. It's that time where her death is still SO REAL to us, but life goes on and others forget. It is okay with me for my friends and family to mention her, to say her name, to ask about how we are. I love to share about my daughter. It's all I have. I covet your prayers...

Recents

Eden recently started taking ballet lessons from a local studio. It has been SO FUN to watch her enjoy this activity! Celeste is taking ballet at the college, too. It's so sweet to see my two girls dressed up for dance. (I don't have a pic of Celeste, though.)

The first picture is of Jamie hugging Eden before her first ballet class. Jamie turned 16 last month and he is such a sweet big brother. Jamie is gone for the summer and I am really missing him. There's six more weeks to go until he comes home... Also, Jamie got straight A's again and due to his honors classes his GPA is 4.2! He has quite a heavy schedule next year with 2 AP classes, an honors course in Chemistry, Pre-calc, Spanish 2, and Culinary 3. I am proud of his hard work!

Splash Park Fun

We went to the "splash park" yesterday and they had so much fun! It was good for me to get out and enjoy my kids. To watch Max, Tommy, Eden, & Joshua laugh and have fun was wonderful. I'm trying to get back to life after Kara Faith. I love all of my children dearly. Some days it's just hard to get going. I feel very blessed by them!

Dan went to Sea World with his class from school yesterday and was quite worn out when he got home. He kept talking about riding the Kracken--a big rollercoaster. Jamie turns 16 next week on June 2nd. I can't believe that. He's about to finish out his 10th grade year and he has a 4.2 GPA currently. I am so proud of him! I miss Celeste most days. I popped in on her today. I just so desperately wanted to see her. Since she moved out I don't spend as much time with her as I'd like. Celeste took Jamie and I out to dinner last weekend and that was quite a treat! I am trying to think of fun things to do with the children this summer to keep us busy. Any ideas are appreciated!

Some Cuteness

After bath fun with Celeste & Joshua

This is what your brothers do to you when you fall asleep at our house...

Joshua loves Eden's Bitty Baby!

Celeste is 18 today!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow **Turn off the music at the bottom of the page before watching this!

Pictures from Graduation 2009

My Sweet Grad
Celeste with Max and Joshua

Zach, my Jamie, & James (The Cheeseballs)

Stuart & I with Celeste--Proud Parents!

Celeste with her display board

Our First Homeschool Graduate

It's going to be a busy week! Next Saturday, we will graduate our 1st homeschool graduate. It has been a lot of hard work, so I am quite reflective at this point. It makes me think about our decision to homeschool and how we got here. Back in 1996-1997 I used to manage a medical office. Every day the UPS Man would come in and testify about Jesus, his church, and how much he loved his wife. Also, he began to tell me about homeschooling. At this point, Stuart & I had just gotten married and we had Celeste(6yo)and Jamie(3yo). We were starting our own family and God led us to make the decision for homeschooling. Read Deuteronomy 6:4-9. We have had challenges and made mistakes, but God has been so faithful to Celeste. She is a very hard-working young lady who is currently taking 12 credit hours at the local community college and working at a local grocery 20-25 hours per week. I don't get to see her as much as I'd like! I'm going to post her bio in the next post.

A Recent Trip to Siesta

I just got back last night from a 2-day trip to visit my parents in Sarasota. Celeste (17) and I went to Siesta Key Beach, out on the boat, and to Philippi Creek Restaurant. It is Celeste's spring break and I needed a little respite. It was fun, but I am glad to be home again!

I'm still alive over here--buried under several children, but still kicking! Since the big kids returned I have been here, there, and everywhere. I really forgot how much they drive our schedule. The school year gets kicked off next week with Jamie starting at the local high school. Orientation tomorrow night--I'm a nervous mama, but praying I'm overreacting to the whole transition. Celeste begins at the college the following week. She's excited about her senior year and I am, too. We're going to Sarasota for the weekend--Celeste, Karyn (Lest's best bud), and I. I'm going to be doing some planning for the home school year and the girls will hit the beach. Pray for good weather. I know it will be so weird to be without all the littles. Stu is even keeping the baby. That will be hard for me... I hope to post a few pics of our trip, so stay posted. We're staying with my parents and they're always fun!

Oh, I forgot!

Celeste and Eli, Models
Karyn, Alli, & Celeste
The group all together
A little fun...

Yes, being in the hospital during Celeste's Prom made me forget to post some pictures. It was April 19th. Here they are, better late than never! (She went to a Prom with a local Christian school that invites homeschoolers.) Celeste's "date" is a friend of hers from church, Eli.

Joshua is gaining, although it's probably from his bottles, not nursing. We went to see the lactation consultant today and he weighed 8 pounds, 6.8 ounces. Really close to his birth weight, yay! After nursing for 35 minutes he had gained 1 ounce. Not the best, but better than last time. I'm going to keep trying for another week or so and see what happens.

Celeste starts summer A next week and is taking 2 classes. Celeste rec'd an A in ENC1101, YAY!We're trying to finish up the school year with the other kids. The baby is crying...time to feed him again!

Tuesday

Woo hoo, I just looked at my baby ticker up there. Getting close, I am. I'm thinking about 2 1/2 more weeks (hoping less). I still have a very small belly button, so there's a little more room.

Tonight the boys are at baseball practice. Stu is an Asst. Coach for their league this year. Dan and Max are on the same team--thank goodness. They have 2 practices and 2 games this week. Busy! I'll probably make only 1 game. They have a 7:00 game on Friday and I just don't feel the greatest by the end of the day. I'll have to go on Saturday to their game!

Anyway, just checking in. Celeste is overnight at her best friend's house. She's working on a research paper for ENC1101. She's doing very well in the class, yay! Jamie has guitar tomorrow. They have a recital in April. There is so much in April that my mind in swimming...AND I'm having a baby. Aaahhh!

I'm Still Here

Yes, I'm still around...literally, ha! We actually had a pretty packed weekend. It started with Max's 7th birthday (on Friday, February 1st!), then we had dinner at my brother's yesterday, and we went to church today for service and a Superbowl/fellowship night. Tonight I dropped off my truck for new brakes--gotta have those! I'm hoping it will be done quickly and I can get it back by early tomorrow afternoon.

We're doing school tomorrow, of course. I'm adding a writing program for Jamie. We decided on Jensen's Format Writing. Check out the link for more info and a review. Also, Celeste is doing American Government from A Beka. We'll see how we like that. It's a senior course, but we'll start it now and maybe finish it early next year. It's only a semester, but we're getting a late start. In addition, we'll do an Economics course next year.

Dan and Max start baseball very soon. This was a very busy time for us last year. I'm hoping the season is over before baby comes. Max didn't play last year, but his Daddy wanted him to this year. They wil be on the same team together with a wonderful coach we know. I think it will be lots of fun! I enjoy watching the games and all the practices are close to home.

We're still really working with Tommy on potty training. He is wearing pull-ups. He is now 3 1/2 and I am quite frustrated with his lack of interest. All of my other boys were trained by now and wearing big boy underwear. I'll keep on it, though. I don't relish the thought of 3 in diapers! Eden is growing by leaps and bounds. She is such a cutie. Her newest word is "Guys!" She yells it at the boys sometimes from her crib. I must say it a lot. She got a new stroller and rolls it around the house constantly with her dolly in it.

My beautiful daughter

Here is a picture of my gorgeous daughter, Celeste. Her friend, Angela, is taking a photography course at college and took this for an assignment. WOW! I just had to post it.

I go in for another baby check-up tomorrow. After that I go to every two weeks. I'm glad to finally be in that territory. I'm not feeling the greatest and am hoping my hip and tailbone pain will ease up some soon. A visit to the chiropractor helped a lot this week, but it's not all gone. The weather is dreary here today, but not cold. Homeschooling is going pretty well and Celeste is enjoying her college classes. She has a test in math and a paper to finish on Friday. We'll check her progress next week. We are very proud of her!

Saturday musings

It's going to get a bit colder here for a few days. I anxiously await this development as it was in the mid-80's yesterday. This is December?!? Send some frost our way...bring it on!

I just posted an article about childhood arthritis and vaccines at His Healthy Child. This subject hits home as my oldest daughter suffers from JRA. Currently, she is not taking any prescription meds for her condition. We are praising the Lord for her good health over the past couple of years. She still has to watch her diet, but hopefully she can continue without the use of pharmaceutical intervention.

By the way, Eden is now spending the majority of her time walking! It's so strange and funny to see this little tiny person round the corner standing up. She is so cute and looks like a cross between Frankenstein and someone who's tipsy. At 14 months, she only weighs 20 pounds. She's our petite little wonder.

Today it's off for a little Christmas shopping. I feel like I have done a lot, but when you have 6 children to buy for it can be overwhelming. Each child will receive 3 gifts and some stocking stuffers, so that's 18 gifts + a few little ones. It's interesting, because a couple of them haven't been able to give me many ideas. It's nice that they're not so caught up in the stuff (I only have 1 who is, really). I love giving and receiving gifts. This makes Christmas fun, but I don't like how commercialized it is. Jesus is the real reason we are to celebrate this season. Let us not forget to focus on that!

Jamie and Celeste will be leaving for St. Louis in just over a week. They will be gone 19 days. Please pray for me as I am pregnant and not used to caring for 4 children under 8 all by myself. I'm having a hard time carrying the baby (Eden). My right hip has been giving me trouble, so I'm trying not to pick her up. She is only walking about 20% of the time, so that makes this difficult. It's hard for the rest of us when our whole family isn't together during Christmas. The little boys really miss their big brother and sister. I am praying for safe travels and that Jamie and Celeste enjoy their family in St. Louis.

Monday has been a migraine disaster. I awoke with a very achy neck and quite of bit of nausea. Being pregnant, I chalked it up to that. Wrong! It will be all better soon...cornbread is in the oven courtesy of Jamie. Yay! Celeste is doing a parking lesson with Stu because we're finally going to take her to get her license soon--cost of insurance aside. I'm tired of Celeste or Jamie getting stuck places because they don't have the car keys. Enough said and now it's time to go lay down again.

A busy week

We are having a busy week here, although abbreviated in the homeschool area. This week is Celebration north for about 7 Sovereign Grace Churches, so we will be attending Thursday-Sunday. It is close to our home, so we won't be staying at the camp where it's held, but it should be fun with lots of worship, good teaching, go carts, blobbing, and food. 1 more day of homeschool and then the fun begins!

I added a picture of Celeste and her friend, Karyn. They went to a 16th bday 50's sock hop last Saturday. Karyn's Mom made the skirts for the girls. So fun!

Just a quick note to let you know that I've been getting ready to send my older children off for the summer. They go to spend time with their father in the St. Louis, MO area. Celeste and Jamie will be leaving on Friday around noon. Their family is taking a Disney vacation, so for the first time they will be picked up here in North FL. Things have been crazy (as usual). Maybe I'll have more time to blog late at night after my littles go to sleep--or early in the morning! Please pray for me. Life changes dramatically overnight when my teens (Wow, I have 2 now!) are not here and the adjustment is not always smooth. Dan, Max, and Tommy miss their big sister and brother a lot. It's hard for them. I need ideas to keep a toddler busy. Anything would be appreciated!