Six for the Road

Have you seen this TLC show? We happened to catch it last night on accident but it was interesting to say the least (at least to us). This family, who homeschools, actually sold their house and bought an RV and they are traveling to all fifty states (not sure how they will make it to Hawaii) and truly educating their children on the wonders of God's glories He has bestowed upon the US. They have two teenage daughters and two very active boys. Last night the show was on dissecting a frog and how their daughters didn't want to and the boys did. They had also stopped somewhere to run a fireworks stand for 12 days and the hardships on this effort were tremendous. I'm not sure how they survive, but somehow they are doing it and adjusting with all of it.

I'm fairly sure I couldn't do this but it intrigued me. We want to take a trip to Washington DC next fall and I've been planning that road trip. However that will be a 2 week adventure at the most and not a whole years worth of planning to go to. The adventure they will experience is so much more than a classroom could ever teach them. The mom is still doing their core subjects and such but going above and beyond the call of duty by giving them a hands on experience of so many things families just don't get to explore. Just thought I would let some of you know what you could watch on TV if you really had some time in the evening to just watch (doesn't happen very often in this household).

Calm before the Storm

Robotics is over and my huge ladies event is done, Upwards has one more week and we are in a calm period of time. That doesn't necessarily mean we don't have a lot to do, we just have less work outside the house and less meeting in the evenings. What it does mean is that we have to buckle down with our school work, get to cleaning our house (it really has been left to itself these past 6 weeks!), and get ready to start thinking about the holidays.

However this week, although I will clean and we will get some school done, I'm going to rest. I'm going to maybe read a book, take a nap, go shopping because I want to, and more. Today, well enrichment continues, and then we will head home to clean up what looks to be a Tornado that hit the inside of my house. We have a few weeks before Upwards Basketball starts up along with Isabella's birthday, Thanksgiving, going to Granny's 90th Birthday party, Zech's Birthday, and then Christmas. All that coupled with parties, shopping, and school, well lets just say the storm will hit again and I will be busy continuously from here on out.

My Lord sustains me and keeps reminding me to focus on Him and what really matters and that is what I am continually doing! He matters and showing the world His glory!

We Won Third in NT Best Award!

I cannot tell you how proud we as home educator parents are for our children! They have worked so very hard the last six weeks in preparing for this competition. There are two sets of awards given out for this competition. One is for the actual Robots and its driving and although in the Semi finals our drivers actually got us into first place (Sarah and Caleb!) our finals round didn't go very well and we placed fourth! However 4th from 14 teams is awesome still and therefore we are still very proud. Although as the judges announced those, they come to a point where they say, the robotics challenge is great and all that is not why they do this competition. They do it because they want to see schools come together in an effort for teamwork, best sportmanship, and spirit. Therefore they place the NT BEST Award higher than the actual Robotic award and we were given 3rd place in that award and Wow how spectacular that is! I am so very proud of my three! They did their work seriously on top of all the schoolwork they had! Mom didn't slack off very much during this six weeks and so we are still ahead of the game and doing our BEST! Go Home Educators Around Texoma (HEAT!), you all did a wonderful job!

You Tube Video of our MARS Team

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8cH6uFsza4


Click on the above post and it will take you to our video for our MARS Team. The kids did such an awesome job!

Friday Fotos!

Pray for the MARS Team and Sarah our driver (all the drivers & mechanics & rack transporter (Zech is one!), competition is Tomorrow (October 25th, starting at 9:00) We have to be there at 7:30 am which means we leave here at 5:00 am! Woohoo! Go, Mars, Go!!!!!

I'm off to see the Wizard!

In all the discussions we have had of late, one strikes me as particularly amusing. RADAR our robot at the mall day was erratic in his movements at points of the competition. The judges even saw it and started checking it out. They inspected the batteries, the parts, and all the other pieces that make up RADAR. In doing so they finally suspected and finalized that they believe RADAR's brain maybe had a malfunction in its hard wiring and therefore they gave us a new brain to reprogram and attach to RADAR before Game day. Now as I was thinking about this, I started pondering how many of us has a hard wiring defect in our brain and would love to trade up! I know I would. My children, as sweet as they are, often tell me that my brain must be leaking or malfunctioning. I forget to do things like go down an alternative road to get to my house because they have my main road blocked off. I've forgotten a half dozen times and every time they seem to be with me and say, "Mom, where are you going?" I want to tell them something smart you know, but usually it is just, "Yes, mom forgot AGAIN!" I forget other things as well like to pick up milk when we are out, to sign them up for this or that, or get something copied for school. These are all simple in their nature however to children when Mom forgets something to them is wrong. They also love to point out when Mom doesn't do everything right! Kids truly help you become humble. Well at any point of this discussion I realize that I would love to have someone give me a new brain, an upgrade, and reprogram my design. While we are at it, maybe they can reprogram all those quirks I seem to have and those eradicable movements I get every now and then. I would love to have a brain for math and science because I still don't like those subject. My brain would function to a more outdoorsy kind of view of life than a stuck in the mud and in the house kind of person I am. Maybe I would even be a genius! Who knows, but because I am in the midst of the wildest kind of chaos that ensues my days here lately, I truly feel like the scarecrow without his brain. He and his friends simply followed the yellow brick road and set off to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, all to receive parts of themselves they needed. So today I'm off to see the Wizard to get a new brain. Hmmm. . . isn't that a lot like going to see the God every morning in our quiet times. Oh Lord, truly I need a new brain or at least someone to reprogram it. He says to me, "Go to my Word!" His Word is all we need! It will reprogram all of us!

Toilets (to clean or not to clean!)

Interesting enough we are having such a funny little discussion in my house in the midst of the robot mess, stress, chaos, we are in. You see all my three darling children have chores to complete in the mornings and one of those is the bathroom. They scrub the sink, the mirror, the counter, pick up things from the floor and so on. Also they are to wipe down the toilet every morning (because too many little people who don't care too much about toilets reside in this house and use this bathroom a lot!). Also until about a month ago they scrubbed the inside of the toilet every morning. Well mom found a neat invention, but costly and therefore has changed this routine to scrubbing once a week. This neat invention is just a handle that you attached a scrubber that already has bleach, cleaners, and scrubbers in it. You simply attach it to the handle, dunk it in the water, and voila the cleaners are released and off you go.

So the reason for my post is this: All my little people are getting mad at the others because they haven't had a turn to clean the toilet! LOL! Isabella's turn is on Mondays and even though she has been told she isn't to clean the toilet, she does so anyhow and there ensues the arguement. Zech and Sarah haven't had the pleasure (too funny I know) of cleaning the toilet with Mom's new invention (or purchase). So I have to tell her, yesterday once again, DO NOT clean the toilet because your brother and sister want too. Now you can't punish her for this, I mean seriously who punishes their child when they WANT to clean the toilet. Not this momma, however these new cleaning scrubbers are $4.00 (w/tax) for 6 of them and that categorizes them expensive and I don't want to have to buy them every week for the enthusiam of my children wanting to clean the toilet.

Maybe in the wake of all this robotics event they will figure out a robot to do their chores for them! Happy scrubbing!

We are going to Public School!

Well at least for an hour anyway! R.A.D.A.R. is becoming famous these days and he is making many public appearances on TV, radio spots, and newspapers. Because of his popularity, some public school have requested a demonstration of his wonderful abilities. Sarah will demonstrate Radar today at Katy Haynes elementary school to a group of 6th graders! So we in our MARS T-shirts and camo pants are headed to public school to put on a show of our robots abilities. The kids are excited about showing off their talents and getting a chance to peek inside public schools! (for some reason they think these schools are exciting?!, it is just a world unknown to them and so it is a mystery ready to unsolve for them).

Video of Sarah Driving

Meet R.A.D.A.R.

Radar has two forklifts in the front to pick up the plane pieces and a claw in the back that will place the plane pieces where they belong on the plane.

Here are some pics of mall day and our T-shirts/camo outfits and of course the star of the show R.A.D.A.R. Our team really stood out that day with their t-shirts/camo outfits. The back of the shirt is designed as a machine being built saying, "Release the machine."

Full Speed Ahead

Well Mall day was a success and we are racing towards the end of a very long six weeks. 5 days and counting we are on our mark, ready, and about to say, "Go!" To see who of all the teams truly built the best robot. We have already had a meeting on drivers, two meetings tomorrow, three on Tuesday, two on Wednesday, three or four on Thursday and who knows how many on Friday to try and beat the clock! We leave out of here at 5:15 am Saturday, to get to our destination on time and set up, check in with our robot, and much more.

We are all very dead tired, cranky, stressed, and yet still trying to do school in the midst of all the chaos! We will survive and so very glad that God is faithful and will see us through!

Drivers Needed (and prayer too!)

Friday our robot was finally complete and we had driving competitions to see who our 6 drivers are going to be for mall day and for competition day. Sarah had made up her mind that she wanted to try out. Honestly I think for me I sit on two fences half the time with my children. One is the fence of doubt. Doubting whether or not my child can or cannot do something and knitpicking all their flaws. The other fence is the cheerleading fence when you believe beyond on a shadow of a doubt they are truly the best children in the world. Well Friday I was on the doubt fence! I watched her perform and my thought was, "No way will they pick her." Now to defend her and be on the other fence, there were only about 2 drivers I thought were even worthy for it. So we had about 15 children try out for driving auditions. They were timed, had to go through and around obstacles and such and mimic a dry run. Sarah was about 5 down in the line. They had a few kids who scored the same and so they had a run off and I'm still thinking Sarah will not get picked. So what happens when they announce the winners? I about dropped my jaw, and so did Sarah by the way (she was on the doubting fence too) that she was 3rd from the top!!!! Also she was the only girl picked! I was awed, amazed, shocked, and everything else in between.

Now here is where the prayer begins. She did very well under pressure at Mall day! We survived and we were one of two teams who even got close to building out planes. Even her daddy (who was on the doubting fence too) was impressed! But Mall day is a totally different day than game day. So please pray for her throughout this week to take this completely seriously and that she really understands the workings of the robot. She is now the leader of the robotics team (as all drivers are) and we score by her building or failing. Also pray for us because there are a ton, and I mean a ton of meetings this coming week including one today. Sarah will have meetings everyday this week on driving and Zech will have meetings for the Oral Presentation to tell why our robot is the best and Isabella will have meetings with the Spirit Team (she was chosen team captain of that and you should see her lead, she is quite the cheerleader and leader for this team!). Please pray for our sanity, we are so very tired from everything and we just need rest but that won't happen for this week for sure.

One more week to go! Please pray also for the competition on Oct. 25th, safe travel, safety of the kids, and the pressure/competition of it all! Way to go Sarah! (I promise to post some pictures as soon as I am able!)

Friday Fotos!

Old friends come to visit (Summer 2007)

Queen for the day? Maybe too many queens!

The Big Bad Wolf's Story

Today in school we learned the meaning and the importance of voting. In class we had a news reporter (mom) tell the story that she heard from the Wolf in the classic fairy tale The Three Little Pigs and that he claims that he was framed!!! The wolf was simply trying to get a cup of sugar and had a cold. He went to each pigs house and knocked but they were rude and wouldn't let him in much less give him a cup of sugar. Because of his cold though and his allergies, he would sneeze and end up blowing the pigs house in. He also concluded that the first two pigs were obviously not intelligent since they had built them a house of hay and sticks and therefore their testimony should not be admissible! He continued his story letting them know that by the time he had gotten to the third pigs house the cops were already on their way and they found him sick and tired and judged him because he was mad that the little pigs had not been friendly to him, but they took the pigs side of the story and that is the story we have known for the rest of our Once upon a time time.

Now my three little (no they are not pigs) students had to decide which way to cast their ballot (yes, I know this is a court/Tv case but pretend it is an election type jury situation). So we dicussed our bias's to the story we have already known and to the new story and discussed who we thought to be truth. We debated and it got a little heated (I had to remind them that their opinion was not truth, just opinion). Zech wonderfully reminded us that we had to list the facts. So I sent them all to a different room to think over the fact presented to them, draw a picture of the character that best represented his side of the story and who they thought were telling the truth. Do you know who won? It was 2 against 1 and the pigs won! (I think the voting was a little tainted by our bias's, what do you thing!) It was too funny of a fairy tale, but my three little voters got the idea of how, why, and what to vote on!

Friday Fotos!

A blast from the Past Pictures!

Event Weekend!

Good Morning all! Today is the day, a day I have been planning for almost a year now. A Ladies event for all girls to come and see and know that the Lord is good!

Starting tonight at our church at 6:00 we have a Beth Moore Event happening. I wish she was going to be there live but she will be there through DVD. It is a performance like none she has ever done. The video taped a 2 day conference she gave and boxed it up complete with journals and cute tote bag! There are 4 video sessions of her expounding on the Word of God.

My prayer is that we will feast. Feast on His Word, on fellowships, on food (we will have plenty), and on our thoughts of Him! I know that He is guiding this time and I know that I have prayed so much over this event. We have over 100 ladies coming tonight. They will all receive an official Loving Well tote bag and journal and inside the tote will be a notebook, 2 pens, candy (chocolates, mints, gum, tootsie rolls, and more), a bottled water, hot chocolate packet, popcorn, a candle, a bottle of lotion, a bookmark, & 3 scripture cards. We have jammed packed it with so many goodies and I hope they all enjoy. All of the tote contents were donated to us. We have over 20 door prizes to give out and games to play and a wonderful singing group called Harmony For One! They will lead in worshipping our Lord and Savior!

All this to say, it is going to be a very busy weekend, but once it is over I can breathe again and hopefully this will be behind us in planning but not what we learned in our hearts! I'm tired, but it is a good tired. This is an opportunity that is absolutely incredible and I'm excited it is finally here. Please pray for us (the ladies team) who are leading this event and pray for the ladies who will be attending to truly have an encounter with Jesus!

Warning!!!!!

Just wanted to warn my friendly folks, friends, and family who are visiting my blog that due to time constraints, lack of time, business, and did I mention I was busy? I will be very sporadic in posting on my blog! Sorry for any lack of information you will not receive due to my overbookedness problem, but this can't be helped.

Please pray for me this week as we are in the last week for the ladies event that I'm hosting. WooHoo! Can't wait till this weekend and almost as excited to have it over! Lots and lots and lots of work! We will settle back in for our robotics competition and I'm sure there will be lots to blog (brag) about next week! So until then go shopping, write a letter to a friend, visit another blog, but don't forget about me! Love all of you!

Synonyms, Antonyms, & Oxymorons!

Every morning I wake up before the sun pops his head up to greet me. I sit in my easy chair and have my quiet, holy moments with the Lord. This is my rest before the chaos and pandemonium of my life hits around 7:00 am. There isn't much synonyms in my life anymore, just antonyms and oxymorons! Synonyms are words that mean about the same thing. Like rest, relaxation, and just time for a soak in the tub words that all would give you the knowledge that I need some time away. However my life exists somewhere in the Antonyms, complete opposites of each other. I wake very early in the morning and go to bed very late at night. I go from a dead stop to a dead race everyday anymore. I'm also not being very proactive in my attitudes as of late, so I tend to be anything from terrible to really great or from happy go lucky to stick a smile on my face and "I'm good" but I feel tired, worn out, and just stuck in the rat race! We are going at a dead race right now between a ladies event that another half dozen women and I are trying to put together and the Robotics group. I have at least two or three meetings a day that I have to make just because of these two groups. In the midst of all that teaching 5 different bible classes, 4 other people in my house, 3 children doing school, 2 adults spread very thin, and 1 very over tired mom! (sing that to the tune of the 12 days of Christmas) The oxymorons are things that just don't go together but yet we say them anyway like pretty ugly or relaxing chaos. I'm in the midst of those too because I have found that I can't seem to sit down anymore. At night when "resting" and the unusual night that we might be all home and nowhere to go (Ha, ha, you hear my sarcasm there), I am busy finishing laundry, cleaning, getting ready for the next school day, or just in my head making a mental list of all the things I've accomplished, all the the things I need to accomplish or all the things I don't care to do every again (like planning a big ladies event and robotics club and Upwards football/cheerleading all at the same time!). So there in a nutshell is my life the last 3 weeks and I for one am tired however enjoying the chaos because my children are truly having fun and fun learning and I know this will all end soon and life as I know it will never get back to usual because the usual changes with all the different seasons in our existences here in our town and house. So today even though I exists in the antonyms and oxymorons of my day, I cling to my verse at the top of my blog, "When I am overwhelmed, lead me to the Rock that is higher than I." He is my Rock and I will cling to Him.