Colors

I am officially a soccer mom!  Wow!  How did this happen?  I don't even know all the rules to soccer!  I am a sports fan.  I can honestly say I completely understand the game of football (unlike my mom who asked how many innings there were in our big football game this weekend...lol!).  I love basketball and I love baseball, but now I must learn to love and understand soccer.  With my girls on two different teams, and my husband coaching my oldest's team...I am left with a lot of the dirty work of planning for practices, snacks, texting parents, etc.  Two different schedules and games overlapping, this should be awesome!  I am basically living at the soccer fields for the next month and a half, but we are excited.

After a late practice last Monday, we rush home to get super on the table, baths and spend a little time playing a game as a family.  My mind was going a mile a minute.  I was thinking of the other practices (don't forget there are still gymnastics, dance, co-op and church things too), the 4 dentist appointments on 3 different days, my husband leaving for the west coast and taking a red-eye back, school pictures, and you get what was going on.  I was worrying over how the week would get accomplished and if I would keep it together as it progressed.

Then in a moment, I looked up.  I was washing my hands at my kitchen sink, when one of those AAHHHHH! moments took place...

The picture doesn't do the sunset justice.  The colors were amazing.  The view was breathtaking.  The effects were so calming.  It was going to be a tough week.  But the Lord would give me moments like this to remember to take a deep breath, enjoy this hectic life, be thankful for my family, spend time with Him to give me strength, and always notice His beautiful creation. 

Today's Verse

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork."  Psalms 19:1 ESV

Take time enjoy and be thankful for the world the Lord created for us!  His colors and the reminders of His love are amazing!

Head over to showingjoy.blogspot.com to see a cool color project the girls did!

Negative Talk

My daughter recently told me she heard on the TV that "so and so" was a bad person.  "So and so" is replacing a politician's name.  Now I know politics are important, but I am not a fan of it. And right now, those attack adds are everywhere for a major race happening in our state.  Now the person she said was bad, happens to be the one our family will more than likely vote for.  So I tried to explain things for my sweet 7 year old to understand.

Thinking about it later that day, I wondered how many time she might have heard me be negative about someone.  The rude lady at the checkout, the mom that hurt my feelings, etc.  She's listening to the world around her, including me!  I don't want her to hear the negative talk, and I never want her to hear me being negative about another person.  Not only is she listening now more than ever (because we are together 24/7 while homeschooling), but she listening and absorbing the information, the reactions, the positive but also the negative.

I want her to look past the bad and find the good!  Always finding the best in people.  Realizing we all have bad day...but forgive and move on.  You can't always believe what you hear.  And the list of lessons to be taught is endless.

Being positive and building others up...that is what I want my daughter to hear!  No Negative Talk!

"Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do."  1 Thes 5:11

I'm watching what she says, and I'm making sure we talk about what she might hear on the tv or news.  But most importantly I'm making sure she understands that negative talk is not something we are going to do in our family, and we can all help each other out by reminding each other to focus on the good!


I posted over on Showing JOY about a fun thing we did last week!
Check it out!

Learning Cursive

Does anyone still write in cursive?

It is not my choice of script, but I sure have been relearning the don't lift your pencil letters with my second grader since school started last month.  It is hard!  It is tedious!  But, much like they say you never forget how to ride a bike, it is all coming back to me.  When I had to write Genesis 1:1 on the board this morning, it just flowed out like I had not taken a 20 year break from the beautiful loopy letters.

Does it matter that she learn to write in cursive?  I guess so...she needs to learn to sign her name!  But there are not many people that still use this form of writing.  Well, in all actuality, we are mostly typing these days and not writing at all...texts and emails make up our communication, not the handwritten letters of old.  Online banking has taken the place of writing checks.  And the list of new technologies that make paper and pen a thing of the past can go on and on.

I like the methodical feeling of never lifting your pencil. There may be hesitation as we learn and relearn, but once in the habit, the letters just happen and are beautiful.  We can't stop and think about it too much...just like life!

When I over analyze, hesitate or worry about the next thing, life seems to start to fall apart.  We have to 'let go and let God' as the saying goes.  Let life happen, trusting that He will make the events flow together for our good.  (Rom 8:28)  We don't know the future, but we know WHO holds it.

When I don't think too hard about the letters I'm writing, the beautiful, easy-flowing words appear.

When I don't think too hard about the trials I am facing, the beautiful, easy-flowing memories can take place in the midst of a not so beautiful world around me.

I'm not perfect in my cursive writing, and I never will be.  I will not ever be perfect in living without worry either. I will have sleepless nights and anxiety that seems to overtake on some days...but in those moments when I hand it all to God, the peace seeps in the broken places and I know it will all be ok somehow.

Today's Verse
"Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27b


Soooooo....I did start a homeschool blog.  I'm not sure how good I will be at keeping it up, but as always, I will try my best.  I did post a cursive activity we did if you would like to check it out!
https://showingjoy.blogspot.com/

Mmmmmm Muffins

Hands down, this is the best muffin recipe ever!  It freezes well, they are super tasty and they have peaches and walnuts inside.  I am not even a huge peach fan, but these are irresistible.  I saw a different version of this muffin on another site, but I have made a few changes and the result is sooooo yummy!  I wish I had a picture, but I can't seem to keep them long enough to take one :-)

To freeze, I just wrap individually in wax paper and freeze in freezer bags.  Heat for 30-45 seconds and they are amazing.  I hope your family enjoys!


1/2 cup of butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup lowfat plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup chopped fresh or frozen peaches
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 Tbsp brown sugar

Cream butter and sugar.  Add egg and yogurt and vanilla and mix well.  Combine flour and baking powder, stir into creamed mixture just until moistened.  Do not overmix.  Fold in  peaches and walnuts.  Fill greased muffin cups 3/4 full.  Sprinkle with brown sugar if desired.  Bake at 375 for 18-25 minutes.

Catching Up!

Sooooo....

Well it's been a while.  Not because I intended it to be.  Nor because I didn't want to post.  It just sort of happened.  Each day went by with very few moments for computer time.  Hardly any TV time. Just lots of fun in the sun and using our imaginations!  I'm not going to whine and cry that it is September...but I do think it might make me feel better.  Seriously!  But here we are in another school year, and we are ready for anything!  I blinked and the summer was over.  It is suppose to be hot hot hot here in NC this week, so it is not exactly fall yet.  But there is no pool (sniff) and too hot to go to the park (sniff sniff), so what in the world are we going to do?  Time to be looking up some Pinterest ideas!

Oh, and by the way, we are homeschooling this year for our second grader...YIKES!

So I really do hope to post more.  I am debating a separate home school blog.  I am excited.  I am scared.  We are beginning week three...and second grade is hard!  I previously did not write in cursive, but I do now.  It took me 8 times to write September in cursive yesterday on the board when preparing for today.  No joke!  I am thankful for this opportunity, and that I feel God has truly called us to do this for this school year, but I am overwhelmed!  My little one is still going to preschool three days a week, and we are participating in a cool co-op.  We have church; we will be starting soccer soon, and the little one is still in dance and the big one in gymnastics.  Life is still crazy plus doing all the school work.  But, I am just referring to my fave verse often...Phil 4:13... to sustain me.

Our theme verse for our home school is 2 Peter 3:18..."But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  To him be the glory both now and for ever.  Amen."

Part of our mission statement says..."Learning to put Jesus first, others second and ourselves last." This is otherwise known as JOY.

J - Jesus first
O - Others second
Y - Yourselves last

This is something that can be hard for everyone, but we are trying to really instill this in our kids this year.  It will be an interesting year.  There will be some tough times...there already have been!  But we will grow in grace, we will learn more about Jesus, and we will hopefully come out of this in May saying this was an awesome experience!