Homeschooling with a little one…..

I have to admit: homeschooling has been very difficult with a little one in the house. It is hard to sit down and teach with a 6-month-old who is used to always being held and wants to grab everything and put it into his mouth. We were used to having our schedule and sticking to it....for the most part.

We have been able to get some work done but not all of it. We usually get through 5 or 6 subjects and we have only been able to get through Instruments, Math, Bible, and Spanish. These subjects are self-directed, while subjects like World History, Spelling and Science which require my input have not been done in the last month. 

I have been telling myself it is okay for a bit while we get ourselves back into a schedule. We are getting work done and we are obviously learning from our experience of having a baby in the house.

How did having a new little one change your homeschool day? Were you still able to be very involved? I would love to hear your comments and suggestions!

To pay or not to pay…that is the question?

Let’s talk chores and allowance… I know many parents have different opinions in whether to pay or not to pay their children allowance.

I would like to share what we do in our home. We actually do a combination of paid and unpaid chores. We agree kids should do their part in the home but we also take the opportunity to teach them about tithing, and financial responsibility.  We explained to our daughters that the same way mommy and daddy have to work outside of the home as our part we need them to “work” in the home so we can all share the responsibilities.

Some examples of the unpaid chores are pet care, bathroom, bedroom, and dishes. Some examples of paid chores are making dinner, dusting, polishing furniture, and cleaning refrigerator. The way we decided between paid and unpaid is the usual chores verses the extra chores.  Obviously more extensive chores get more money.  For example dusting is only 50 cents but making dinner is $3.00.  But of course all unpaid chores must be done in order for you to get paid on your paid chores.

What does your family do when it comes to chores and allowance?

Our First Placement

On November 6th I got the call every mom waiting to adopt hopes for. About 4:25pm I got a call asking if I wanted to accept an almost-6-month-old boy as a foster child.  I kept my cool as I was screaming on the inside and said yes.  My husband got home and we anxiously waited for someone to knock on our door. About 6:50pm we saw a white van with the state emblem pull into our driveway. My daughters where jumping from so much excitement to see the little guy coming to stay with us a while.  I took a deep breath and went to open the door. They brought him inside and we were all smiling from ear to ear from the happiness of having a little guy in OUR house!!!  

It has been amazing having him with us for 3 weeks now and it has definitely been a run down memory lane. The last time I had a baby in my house was 8 years ago. All the waking up in the middle of the night, changing diapers, and fixing formula has become almost foreign to me already. My girls absolutely love having him around.

Of course we are aware that our gain means someone else’s loss. We pray over “Baby A” and his mother every day. I have open communication with her. We text, call and send each other pictures several times a week. I hope to keep the relationship open so she can feel she still has access to her son. He is her son not mine right now and I have every intention to respect that.

Are you a foster mom? Or are you in the process of adopting from foster care? I would love to hear your story or to know how you deal with birth parents. Please feel free to comment.

Are you a Proverbs 31 woman?

I would like to encourage you to analyze how you fulfill the Proverbs 31 woman.  But we first need to realize that although she sounds magical and impossible to be, she didn’t do all these things at once in her life. This chapter talks about all her virtues in stages. 

As women we have stages in our lives:

The teen stage: We have to decide who we are and recognize our worth
Proverbs 31:10 “She is worth far more than rubies”

The single woman: We have to learn to be strong and how to stand on our own 2 feet
Proverbs 31:16 “She considers a field and buys it: out of her earnings she plants a vineyard”

The wife: We have to learn to share our life with someone else and create our home
Proverbs 31:11 “Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value

The mother: We become the role model for them to imitate and follow
Proverbs 31: 20 “She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy”

The empty nester: We start to hear “Thank you mom” from our children who are no longer children
Proverbs 31: 28 “Her children arise and call her blessed; and her husband also, and he praises her”

The grandma: We enjoy the children again but we get a different view this time around
Proverbs 31:26 “She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue”

God is seeing your hard work: 
Proverbs 31:31 “Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gates”

We don’t have to be “Supermom.” We have to enjoy whatever stage we are on because soon it will be over and we can’t go back. If you are single then begin to pray for your future spouse. If you are an empty nester keep your future children-in-laws in prayer while your kids are in college or single.  Always remember our Heavenly Father is always there for us no matter what stage we are on.

While we wait...

Our family went through the profiles available online and entered the age ranges that we were approved for.  There were only 6 profiles including 2 sibling groups and 4 individual children. Last week, we started by requesting information on the 2 sibling groups first.  Within 4 days all but 1 child was taken off the website. I was told that could mean the children were reunited with parents or were ready to be matched with another family.  This left me hanging because I didn’t know if we were one of the families being considered for one or any of the children.  I asked about this and was told that less than a week had passed and some workers take 1 week or more to consider and organize the family files submitted.

We were told we have to wait for at least a week or so. I’ve had the conversation with the girls about God’s will being done in this adoption. I accept his will and plan and have asked him to shut and open doors as he sees fit so we get the child(ren) who He intended to become part of this family.  The girls were sad to see the pictures disappear from the website a few at a time but they are willing to wait for God’s will.

But on a good note we are registered for a matching event this weekend and are excited to see other kids that haven’t been posted on the website yet or we haven’t heard of. We have our family flyer submitted and our worker will have several copies to hand out. I am praying to be able to share this Christmas with more kids but open to God’s will and plan.

Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to wait and attend the matching event.

Praying for your Husband

10 ways to pray for your husband:

1.       Pray for wisdom

2.       Pray for patience

3.       Pray for a servant’s heart

4.       Pray for God’s purpose in his life

5.       Pray for guidance

6.       Pray for his mental battles

7.       Pray for spiritual struggles

8.       Pray for his ministry 

9.       Pray for an intercessor’s hear

10.   Pray for favor at his job

When praying for your husband think about the different hats he wears. If he is a father, supervisor, vice president, sales representative, or a mechanic he can always use your help with prayer.  Does your husband have peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control? I check off the things he has and keep praying for those he needs to work on.   

Have you covered your husband in prayer today?