My First Homeschool Convention~Greenville, SC

I just returned from my first homeschool convention in Greenville, SC.  This was truly a life changing event for me, and in turn, my family.

I am blown away how God answered so many of my spoken and unspoken prayers, giving me new direction and purpose. It's like He strategically placed me in each of the workshops that I needed to be in.  I feel like I just gathered up arm loads full of precious golden nuggets and gems that are spilling out and overflowing.  As my friend at The Anderson Bunch put it after leaving one of our workshops- my cup runneth over!  I am overwhelmed by His goodness and so excited for what's ahead for us throughout the remainder of this year and in the years to come.

Besides the workshops, the vendor hall presented a bunch of new curriculum that I can't wait to try.  There are things I plan to order for the remainder of this year and I know the changes I'd like to make for next year. 

I'm thankful for my homeschool mom friends that I was able to share the experience with.  It's refreshing to be with like-minded women of God! 

Mom & Son

What they say about the relationship between a mom and her son is so true.  There's just something special that takes place between them.  Jared and I have many ways we bond and it takes little effort. 

We are both early birds.  Many times we snuggle together early in the morning in my favorite chair by the window and talk about anything, listen to the birds, watch the sun come up or simply say nothing. 

Or, we talk about waking up with a song of praise on our hearts.  Music is something we both love.  We have a couple of "our songs" that are special just to he and I.   One of them is Glenn Miller's "In the Mood".   Jared loves Big Band/Swing. Another is a silly one called "Let's Rub Noses, Like the Eskimoses." 

We like to read together.  Many times I read books outloud to him, and neither of us move on to the next chapter without the other.  Sometimes we both fall asleep before we can finish a page.

We share a love for nature.  Whether it's sitting in the sunshine and soaking it up, bird watching, taking in the beauty of plants and flowers, a walk in the woods, or the simple excitement of having bunnies come right up beside us in the yard---we love it all.

Mostly, we share a love for our Creator.  I love the talks we have together about our God: thankfulness for all He's done, His beautiful creations, the song He puts in our hearts, His word,  answered prayers and prayers that are currently on our hearts.  It blows my mind how Jared can find the spiritual application in almost any situation.  I can count on him to share in a burden or excitement and take them both to prayer. 

Then, there's Chess.

It's a game that sits on the shelf, untouched, until he and I play together.  I taught him how to play a few years ago and ever since, it's been our thing.

The End.

Our Melted Crayons

Hello Friends!

Spring is in the air and I'm so happy about it!  We have been pretty busy over here, lately.  We joined a Homeschool Co-op which meets weekly and the kids are lo-oving it, which = a happy mom.  We spend about 5 hours there and it is the highlight of my kid's week.  They both have classes (Jared: Human Anatomy, PE and Orchestra. Jenna: Zoology and Sewing) then we have our packed lunch.  After lunch the gym is open and the kids run around playing all sorts of organized games while us moms gab on the sidelines. 

Besides the new Co-op, we have our house on the market which = constant cleaning. *Yawn*.  I'm tired just thinking about all the cleaning I've done.  We have a routine in the morning of making beds and picking up bedrooms before we start school.  Friends, you are more than welcome to "drop by" ANYTIME, because my house is always clean!

We tackled a project that we'd never done before: melting down our old crayons.  This is something I've been planning to do for years, literally (which is why I HAVE to blog about it--ha!).  The kids tackled this one on their own since they were tired of waiting for me to get around to doing it!

So, we broke up our crayons into pieces and put them in my muffin tin (I recommend using an old one that you don't plan to use for muffins later because it's hard to get all the melted wax off when you're done).

This isn't the best picture (above) but I wanted to show you the condition our house was in when we got a call at 6:58pm for a house showing at 7:00pm.  Talk about panic.  My husband was just walking down the stairs from waking up after working 26 hours straight.  Crayon bits and labels covered the table and floor, no beds were made, dinner dishes were in the sink, etc.  I told them they could come see the house at 7:30, which was still crazy.  I went from room to room carrying around the container filled with crayons (above) because I didn't know where to put it and couldn't stop to think about it!  I guess it was a good drill for us because everyone ran around and we got the house picked up in time!

So, we then baked our crayon bits on 250 degrees for about 10-15 minutes.  They came out looking like this:

We put them in the refrigerator to cool for about 15-20 minutes and popped them out of the tins.  And they looked like this: 

What we'll do with them now, I have no idea.  The kids say they're too pretty to use.