take a moment and breath them in...

I encourage you busy momma...
take a minute to hold them...
put down that laundry you are folding...
stop talking..
and just breath them in...
the will only be little for a moment and then that moment will be lost forever...

look what God has done...

I look at the last 5 years of my life and cannot believe what God has done.
He is perfect and when we allow Him to take full control (which I don't know if I will ever be good at, but I sure try)He can make our lives great.
I literally feel Him in control of my path.
The confidence of knowing He is leading me and the security that comes with that truth would have been unimaginable to me 5 years ago.
Five years ago I thought I had it all figured out.
I thought God was leading me.
God shook me.
He wanted to show me, to teach me, that I was not allowing Him to have full control,
He gave me the chance to fully put my trust in Him,
I did.
The path has not been an easy one,
there have been many ugly moments,
things I am embarrassed of,
no one is perfect and those who know me know I'm the first one to admit my faults,
but I have the grace of a perfect God and that makes me feel pretty darn good.
We have some exciting things happening in our life (not another baby!) and I'm so excited to share with you what God is doing... but not just yet.

Hope everyone is having a great week.

Discover Science Field Trip

Today we went to a field trip with our co-op.
It was a fun day for the kids with lots of hands on planet/solar system related learning.
I'll spare the details and just share the pictures.

Here is Scarlett and Colin working on their play-doh planets, they both have older siblings who are in our co-op.

Riley, Sophia and Natalee making the planets, 4 inner planets were little and 4 outer planets were larger.

Troy shared about Mercury...

Sophia didn't want to go up and share about one of the planets so Riley joined her up front for support, he is a great friend.

The kids watched a short video from Bill Nye the Science Guy about the distance between the planets.

Then they got to make a scale of the planets distance from one another and demonstrate how they revolve around the son. Here's Rusty helping (building) Troy's scale.

Last part of our visit the kids got to go in the 'star lab'. We all crawled into this dome and got to see a presentation about the stars, very cool.

Our Classroom

Recently I switched the kids into one room so we now have a classroom/playroom :)
Helps reduce the risk of distractions.

This is our work area...

Eventually I would like to turn the closet into the reading nook but until then, it houses the toys.

This is where the kids hang their completed work, in the evenings I go in and put everything in their portfolio..

This is my space, where I keep workbooks, lesson plans, manipulatives, all the 'teacher stuff'

I keep our learning lists on the wall.. more for me but the kids like looking at it to know what we will be learning each day.

Classroom rules, something every class needs to have...

and more toy storage, I moved a utility shelf from the garage and it works perfect to keep toys out of the way...

Most important... my students, hard at work... loving their new school room.

My Birthday Weekend

My mom gave me the best birthday present 27 years ago... life... and this birthday weekend she treated me and the hubby with a weekend away. I'd say this birthday present was a close second to the day she birthed me into this world. :)

Tony and I haven't gone away in 6 years without the children, a far overdue mini-vacation and something we value and we are already planning to get away again soon.

We went to Ormond Beach while the monster's stayed with my mom. The kids had a great weekend and were glad to see their momma and daddy when we returned.
They made me this beautiful cake to welcome me home on Sunday afternoon. :)

On Sunday morning we checked out Tomoka State Park and did some canoeing...
We saw lots of fish and manatee in the river, def made some great memories on this river.



Oh- and who knew that Outback made a gluten free chocolate thunder from down under! So Yummy! Happy Birthday to me!

patting you on the back

I used to say it was God's way of patting me on the back saying everything was ok.
You laughed and rolled your eyes.
I knew you didn't understand and that's ok.
But I still tell you because someday you will recognize all the times that He has pat you on the back.
You just don't notice it yet.
Sometimes it's a "job well done" kind of pat.
Other times it's a "get yourself right" kind of pat.
"Pay attention I'm trying to show you something" kind of thing...
I see them a lot more lately...
you recognize them more too.
I know you feel Him.
He is reaching out to you.
I pray the next time he pats you on the back that you reach out and cling to His mighty hand.
Walk with Him a while, let Him show you the way back, back to Him, back to life everlasting.
He's there.
He always has been.
He always will be.
Waiting for you, patting you on the back.