Sharing Space

When we got back from vacation a few weeks ago, I took everything except the beds out of my girls room.  Princess Sunshine was still sleeping in our room, and the only way to get her into their room was to get my 2 year old into a bed, so the baby could have the crib.....which meant somehow fitting another bed in their room.  We only have a small 3 bedroom house.  Here's where it gets a little tricky.  We only have one son, who gets his own room, which means there are 5 girls in the other bedroom.  The room is about 10' X 12' which is pretty small for 5 kids, beds, dressers, toys, etc.

So, I decided the easiest way to rearrange was to pull everything out into the living room.  BIG mistake!!!  I got the new bed set up, and I rearranged the furniture for optimal space, but I still haven't had time to go through the toys to see what I'll keep and what I'll get rid of.  So, in my kitchen they sit.  Now that we've started school they may sit there a bit longer.  The longer the kids don't ask for them, the more I just want to get rid of them!  :D  I'm realizing just how little will/would make them happy.  That's been my mission lately.....less is more.  I've been clearing out to make extra room to live.  It's a small house & I'm tired of all the "stuff".

The good thing is, for the most part, they never complain about sharing their space.  They just know that this is the way it is.  Period.  They have space for their own personal things, but they'll never (at least in the present future) have their own room.  

All this is to say, I believe this is why they are so close and get along so well.  They've learned (and are still learning) that it's not just about them.  They do have their moments, but I love listening to them play and include the little ones.  They're even starting to include Princess Sunshine.  Now that she's old enough to be entertained, they will gladly take her for a few minutes while I start dinner, laundry, etc.   

So, expect to see more organizing posts in the weeks to come :)

Choosing Next Years Curriculum

Looking for a new curriculum, for my girls, was so hard for me. I like things black & white. There's nothing wrong with the curriculum I've always used, so when God told me not to use my "normal" curriculum I started to panic. I started to think things like:

"I don't even know where to start looking."
"What if I choose the wrong one?"
"We don't have money to waste on things that aren't going to work."

But the feeling just wouldn't go away.  I knew God wasn't going to let me off the hook this year.  You see, I started to feel this was after I started school with them....last year!  But I didn't want to waste what we had already invested in, so ignored the feeling.  When last year ended, I started to look at homeschool catalogs.  It was then that I started to feel so overwhelmed.  So I started to pray about what God wanted us to use.  I prayed A LOT.  I had no idea what direction to go in....until I saw it.

Flying Creature of the Fifth Day by Apologia.  As soon as I saw it I knew.  You see, we live in the country.  On a daily basis we see birds that others have never even seen.  Not to mention the bugs!  Believe it or not, my girls are facinated with them.  As I read about the course I started to get excited, which was confirmation for me.  Then I started to get excited about what else I could find.

Through the summer God has shown me where we need to be for this year.  Up until now, I've had my 3 girls in different grade levels for every single subject.  God has given me curriculums, for this year, that I can do with multi-age levels.  So, Science, History, and Math will be consolidated for my oldest 2 girls, and maybe even my 6 year old.  With a 2 year old and an infant, this will free up some of my time for them.

I don't know how it will all fall into place, but I feel such a relief to know that God is in control of this. All I had to do was take the first step....in faith!

Back to Basics

Back to Basics . . . .
That's what God spoke to me over a year ago.  I had no idea what it meant, but I suspected things were about to change.  My husband had been wanting to downsize our "things" and I assumed this had something to do with that.  Then, over the course of time, I realized God had something more for me.  He told me change was coming.  Again, I had no idea where that would lead.

This would take way to long to read if I gave you all the details, but let me sum up the past year:

• God told me some friendships would be changing, and they did. I lost a couple key friends.
• God told me to step down from the bible study at our church and our MOPS group.
• I found out I was pregnant (I now have a 6 month old:)
• God told me it was time to step out and try something new with my homeschooling.

I'm still not sure why those friends have been removed, but hopefully someday I will understand.  As for the rest of the list...  They may not seem like a huge deal, but to me they were.  Why would God tell me not to do a bible study??? And, I had no idea how hard it would be to finish out last years school year with a 2 year old and an infant. (some days I didn't think we'd ever finish).

So, when he told me to step out and try something new, with regards to homeschooling the girls, I panicked.  Other than being extra busy with the little ones, I didn't see anything wrong with the curriculum I have been using all along.  Plus, why fix it if it isn't broke? Right?!?!  I didn't do anything at first, mostly because I didn't want to choose the wrong curriculum, but I knew I needed to obey God.  I knew the pull that I felt wouldn't go away until I took that first step.  For those of you who may be hesitating....take that first step!  I felt such a relief when I did.  And after I took the first step, the second one was a little bit easier, and the third even easier than the first two. 

I am now confident that I am exactly where God was leading me.  I have rearranged our home school schedule so that I will have more time with the little ones.  (I'll get into how I consolidated things in the next few days.)

Here's where God's Back to Basics worked into the picture.  Two of my girls have been asking me, for a very long time, to teach them cooking and sewing.  If I hadn't stepped out in faith, I would have ended up with another school year of 'too much work and not enough time' to teach them basic life skills that they are wanting to learn.   I'm excited for what this year will bring.  I'm sure God has even more for us, now that I've stepped out in faith.

Wordless Wednesday

It didn't take her long to figure it out.

Forgiving vs. Forgeting

With the pain of a broken friendship comes the time when you need to forgive.  But forgiving is not the same as forgetting.  It's much harder to forget that hurt that goes so deep.  I recently realized this when I felt my blood pressure rising over the simplest thing....someone who heard the rumors about me will no longer even look at me.  I guess it shouldn't bother me.  After all, were they really a friend if they didn't even ask my side of the story?  Needless to say, I felt myself grow agitated, and had no idea that this person could still indirectly do this to me.  The pain is obviously much deeper than even I thought possible.  I still have so many unshed tears.  I don't take friendships lightly, so to have something thrown away so easily really bothers me.  Don't get me wrong, there are 2 sides to every story.  The hurt is not so much from what happened but the things that were said about me.  They hurt greatly and I lost many 'friends' because of those hurtful words. 

So, how do you forget?  How do you get to a level of not letting it bother you?  You see, we go to the same church, so its unavoidable to never have to see/hear about this person again.  God has taught me much through this trial, but I still haven't learned how to let go of the hurt.  I just keep praying that someday God will take the pain and replace it with understanding.