Monica

It has been a while since I have blogged. If you remember back in 2012 I told of my dear friend that had been diagnosed with cancer. For a while I had a donation widget on the sidebar as the medical bills grew...

Well, my dear friend passed from this life into the arms of Jesus on February 13, 2014. She was 39 yrs old. She left behind a husband of 20 years and 4 children.

When the cancer came back in January, she asked if we could come to be with her. So we moved into her basement. She did not want Hospice, she wanted family to care for her. It was sad, and beautiful and painful and rewarding. She taught me so much about living in those days before dying.

My kids are really good kids. They packed in a moments notice, traveled and left their home life for almost a month. They slept on air mattresses and pallets on the floor. They left their toys, games and favorite blankets.

They never complained!

James took on shoveling their drive and walkway, Jackson took on taking out the trash and sweeping. Jordan took on caring for the babies and became the preschool teacher for 3 little ones. Her children showed me where everything was and hung in their with me teaching their curriculum that I was not familiar with, changing the way they normally do school, gave up their playroom and shared their toys. All the kids accepted a new menu as cooking for 9 children in someone else's kitchen is a challenge.

And finally, all the children surrounded my dear friend with love, kisses, songs and prayers. Everyday that she could, she would have the kids come into her room and cuddle, talk and spend precious time with each one. She and her husband did a beautiful job of explaining what would happen and her children were wonderful ambassadors of grace and peace at one of the largest funerals that I have ever attended.

She had asked Joshua to sing at her funeral and that little boy went to the front of the church, got up on the stage in front of 400+ people and sang!

Beautiful, beautiful, Jesus is beautiful
and Jesus makes beautiful things of my life
Carefully, touching me, causing my eyes to see
and Jesus makes beautiful
Things of my life.

I know she was smiling.

So, I wanted to document this.

My heart aches with missing her. She was my very dearest friend, my sister, my cheerleader. I am proud to have known her.

Bodies of Water

In science today I asked Jackson to name bodies of water. He answered, "Oceans, lakes, rivers....toilets, pools." Boys!

Happy Belated New Year!

Finally

We are back from vacation and I am finally able to blog again. I did not take my laptop this year, but used my K*ndal F*re HD. Google Chrome would not allow me to sign in as I was in a "foreign location". The only way to confirm that it was indeed me was to apply a secret code that they would give me over the phone... my home phone! Hmmmm. So, I have missed you all and was not able to do my days of thankfulness, but I am so thankful. This years vacation was by far the best family vacation ever!!

My mom, dad and brother went along with me and all 5 children this year. This was Joshua's first plane trip and family vacation and it was quite an adventure. Nassau was beautiful and although it rained more than it ever has in 20 years, it was still a wonderful and relaxing time.

Had to block out 2 ladies that were not very modestly dressed, but they were very sweet and fell in love with my children. 

School time

Homeschool is where the home is :)

Joshua watching the commercial fishing boats and cruise ships. 

A wonderful 4 weeks with family and friends.

Art

 Last weeks art project was using shipping paper and colorful fall leaves to celebrate the fall season. They went for a walk around the block to get lots of varieties and then glued them onto the picture of a tree. 












This week we went to get pumpkins and gourds. We used mini pumpkins, yarn and puff paint to make these cute little heads. We had school outside today, so it was a nice outside project.  

The First Of Many Years

After my last post, I went back to look at our class photos.

Changing.....

I forgot to write the year on the chalk board this time. I don't think I can convince them into a do-over. 

Return of the Googly Eyes

Our 2013/2014 Student Body