Graduation

After almost 8 months of attending Kid Potential, Lem has graduated! She is reading most anything she would like to read and writing letters and notes all of the time.

We are so proud of her! Thank you to all of the wonderful folks at KPI who worked so much with her. And thank you to Aunt MC and Lem's siblings who attended her graduation. A special thank you to Mr. M who wanted to be there with all of his might...

Watch out world, Lem is on the loose!

See my muscles, Mama!?!

Question of the week

Ok, so I'm a few days late in posting this, I apologize.

One night I was listening to our local Christian Radio station, KSBJ, while a very interesting topic was being discussed.

The interviewer, and I am afraid I don't know who he was, asked this question and it has been swimming around in my head ever since.

How do we live our lives, as if we fear God, or fear man?

Since I've heard the term, "God-fearing" I must admit I have never really understood it. I mean, in my world, God is all-loving and all-knowing. To think that I must be AFRAID of Him baffled me.

But when I heard this question on the radio, I think I finally captured a glimpse of what is meant by "God-fearing".

Unfortunatley, as much as I think I love God and try to seek His will in my life, I am guilty of worrying more about what others think than what my God will think. At least at first. Which is often times why I need to go back and change my mind or my opinion about things. And being an impulsive type personality that says whatever comes to the tip of my tongue, I usually have some apologizing to do with that.

This is an area I am working on...still... probably forever. I need to think for sometime before acting, commenting, or even internally reacting to a given situation. I desire so much to fear God more than man. I desire to love Him above all things, but my humanity keeps me from meeting my goals more often than not.

The question then is this:

Whom do you fear more, God or man, honestly?

Also, this week, please keep Moneybags in your continued prayers. He has just made his decision regarding his call to the priesthood.

It's a bird!



It's A Plane!



It's SUPER BOO!!

WHAT???!!! This green stuff is GOOD for me??!!!

Question of the Week

Since I'm in school planning and organization mode around here, I haven't much time to blog, at least not with any consistency right now, so I thought I'd select a question each week to ponder.

Feel free to comment publicly or email me privately. Or just read and reflect on your own.


My question this week is this.

What would you most like to be remembered for?

In reading St. Francis de Sales, he points out that after we die, it is not long before we are forgotten. Of course our children will remember us, probably our grandchildren, (who will only remember us as older folks), and if we are very blessed, maybe even a few great-grandchildren will we get to meet and they might remember us. But within about 50 years after our death, not many, if any, will recall who we are.

Obviously, living our lives for Christ, striving for holiness so that we can live with Him forever in Heaven is or should be the forefront of our lives. Does our life reflect this? If you were to die today, what would you most be remembered for?

A Pirate's Life

Our day as pirates started as any good day does, readying the mates for our voyage.

After collecting the crew and piling them into the Ship Suburban, we headed over the stormy seas to our dear Auntie's house. There we embibed ourselves with yummy bbq sandwiches and soda, not to mention brownies, popsicles, and other pleasantries.

After watching Pirates #1 to prime ourselves for the big show, we, all 11 of us, boarded ship again, and headed for the big island in the center of the big blue to view the newest chapter in Jack Sparrow's quirky life.

We were able to commandeer enough tickets to get us in at the last minute and we were even fortunate enough to get seats in a pretty good section of the theater.

The movie was better than I expected. I do not typically hold up high hopes for sequels, but this one did make the grade. It is rated PG-13, as it should be. There is no nudity, but the violence that is implied (nothing shown) and the scary factor on some of the characters, would make me really think about taking young children under 10 to see it. My children, guinea pigs for this event, did pretty well, but they have seen their fair share of movies which I would rather they have not seen. My four-year old, Fish, loves Star Wars, and though I thought it might be a bit to scary for him, he was actually more interested in going home after an hour. His attention span leaves room for improvement. He was not scared, did not have any scary dreams, but he lives for battle scenes. If he doesn't get to see them, he makes them up on his own.

Lem, my 8 year old, was a bit more in tuned to the scary parts, but enjoyed the movie nevertheless.


Our family really enjoyed the show. We give it an official F Troop 2 swords up!

In Honor of Jack Sparrow

Fish saw this costume at the store today and just had to have it!! He can't wait to go to the "Pirate of the Carrot Bean" party tomorrow!!

Looking forward to an afternoon of Pirates 1, dinner, then on to see Pirates 2.

Good thing my family enjoys being together. I think we are revving up for our trip in October!!

When Foo babysits...

Boo Bear....




Oh, Boo Bear....




THERE YOU ARE!! Boo, toys go in the basket, not babies....

Have a Happy Day!

Happy 4th of July!

One Nation, UNDER GOD, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for ALL!

Prayer for the Salvation of the World

Father, hear our prayers for the salvation of the world. Grant Mercy to all souls that turned away from you. Open their hearts and minds with Your light.

Gather your children from the east and the west, from the north and the south. Have mercy O God on those who do not know You. Bring them out of darkness into your light. You are our saving God who leads us in our salvation. Protect us from evil.

Bless and praise You O Lord, hear our prayers and answer us. You, our Savior, are the hope of all the ends of the Earth and the distant seas. May Your way be known upon Earth; among all nations Your salvation.

We put the world in Your hands; fill us with Your love. Grant us peace through Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

The Devil Will Never Win

The last few days have been strange and obscure. Issues have come up which seem to appear from no where. I can only say that Satan is trying to have his way with me and those I love so much.

I recalled to mind last night at Mass, Christ has already won the battle, he's won the war. I totally trust my Savior to take care of each of my concerns. They may not turn out exactly how I'd like, but they will always reflect God's glory!

My prayer this night is for all of those who feel abandoned, for just a moment, I pray you can feel His presence as He embraces you.

Week in Review

I haven't had the time I'd like to blog lately. My vocation as mother seems to be calling me into different directions right now.



We've had a pretty busy week, as we usually seem to do. Em is still attending KPI and should be finishing up by the end of July, I hope. She is reading at grade level now and spelling has improved greatly. We are focusing on the more complex codes and memory skills which will in turn help with math applications.



A has moved back into the home for a temporary stay. She will be finding her own apartment within the month. The roommate scene did not work very well for her. Adjusting to having an adult-child move back home has been interesting. For her, having to answer to a curfew, house rules that are not hers, sharing space with siblings, etc., for us, realizing that we can't really "discipline" her anymore. She is not a child, not really fully grown, but legally she is responsible for herself and we can only offer encouragement, wisdom, experience, and advice (which isn't always welcomed).

I remember when I was this age (18.5). I knew everything. I was so much smarter than my parents. They had no clue what the real world was like. And then, one day, in fact, it was a few short hours after A was born, I realized I knew absolutely nothing, was scared to death and only wanted my mommy!!

Well, how the times have changed. You see, I am now the one who doesn't understand how things work. I don't have a clue how the real world works, and I don't know very much. And A thinks this too!!



Bean enjoyed her first full week of being 15. Her wonderful friends picked her up last night for a surprise luau. They had a wonderful time together. This week will greet her with Algebra I waiting in the wings. She needs to get through her lessons so that she can move onto Geometry.
She also authored her own blog this week. I won't be posting her blog here, however, for safety reasons.



Foo also began his hand at blogging this week. He is so excited about writing! Little do either of them know that this is my sneaky way of watching their writing skills develop. (always the homeschooling mom, you know.)



Fish enjoyed showing me his handstand that he can perform on the trampoline. Then we checked in on our tomatoes and herbs. We counted two tiny green tomatos, beautiful little babies! The basil and parsley are doing very well, however, the cilantro has seen better days. The oregano and thyme have not grow very much. I wonder if they aren't good choices for container gardening.



Baby Boo is sitting up so much better now. We still need to place pillows around him for when he topples over, but he is enjoying reaching out for his toys and practicing his new skill. At 8.5 months, he probably should be doing a bit more moving around, but for his size (over 22 lbs) I think he is right on track.



I've been working on planning our school year most of this week. I am refocusing my efforts toward The Latin Centered Curriculum. I have also been trying to plan our trip this fall to Florida. We have a family reunion planned and we can't wait to get there! I might be going a bit overboard, however, as evidence by my dreams last night. I was walking around in Orlando all the while translating signs into Latin...

A neat site I found for those of you interested in translating Latin - Harrius Potter I think Bean will be spending some time with that site.
It looks like fun!