Thursday, June 24, 2010
Time4Learning.com
I’ve been invited to try Time4Learning’s online curriculum for one month in exchange for a candid review. My opinion will be entirely my own so be sure to come back and read my experience with Time4Learning’s educational program. Click to find out more or if you would like to apply to be considered for a review.
Homeschooling my crew
This homeschooling thing has become so stressful for me. I feel ready to give it all up. I want to do it but dont feel as though i am doing a good job. I want to be able to be teaching them all and have had to concentrate on Hannah and not teach the others pretty much at all. I dont know how to do it. Hannah is a good student. She needs prompting to complete tasks but she does good in her work. Its ME! I dont know how so many people are able to spread thier minds to be able to teach their different age leveled children! I am deserperately looking for the solution because if I dont find it, its off to public school again!
I feel spread to thin some times, actually most times! hmmmmmmm...
I feel spread to thin some times, actually most times! hmmmmmmm...
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Need Hope?
My friend has been writing a blog for the past couple months. It started as a way to keep everyone updated on her husband/family's condition. I think now her blog has become a source of testimony strength for many people. See, her husband was diagnosed about 2 months ago with a massive tumor in his liver that is non operable and terminal. They have a unique out look on what is going on. For a family that could understandably be angry, bitter, or resentful they are exactly the oppisite. They have put thier faith in God and know that it is His will. She has said that she has been contacted by friends and even people she doesn't know to tell her how her words have helped them.
For me, I find thier lives and out look right now such an amazing thing! They are inspiring to me and so many people. I am so greatful to be able to witness these miricals taking place. So greatful to be able to call them my firends. Heavenly Father is truly at work in thier lives.
If you would like to know what it is that has insipired me so much, go read her blog at http://prayingforbob.blogspot.com/
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Anniversary Trip to Mt Cheaha
For our anniversary we went to a mountain here in Alabama called Mount Cheaha to camp for 3 days. I had a blast! It was the first time in the 8 years James and I have gotten away without any of the kids. We enjoyed it but missed the kids at the same time. I guess thats being a parent for ya. :-}
All in all it was a really great trip!
Here's some of our adventures:
We took the scenic route which took us through Sylacauga. I took James on an unplanned tour of my hometown(or at least the place I consider my hometown being that Ive moved 27 times lol). I had a blast showing James all my "this is when I..." places. =P
Then we headed out on the road. Before we left I worte the directions down from Google maps. They were good till the end. We turned on the road we thought was the right road because it had the exact same name! But it wasnt because somehow we ended up going the way we had come without meaning to. We went to the end of that road and thought that was our next turn. Then we realized, "Wait a second! Didnt we just pass that old house and that chicken coop?!" LOL
So we turned around and went the other way and some how made it to the road we were supposed to be on. Once we got to the park, we went to check in and we told the girl we wanted the 'semi-primitive' site and she looked at us strangely and said "are you sure? Maybe you should go look at the two sites to make sure."
James and I look at eachother a little worried and tell her no we want those. After that I am thinking "Oh great! There is going to be something seriously wrong with the site." But it was to expensive to go to the "Improved site" so we took our chances. We went up to the site and descovered the were great! I dont know why she looked at us and said that but maybe we just didnt look like we wanted to truely tent camp. It was "semi" because it had picnic tables and fire rings. LOL It was a really nice place. Only problem we had was finding a place we could stake down our tent. Being on a mountain made it hard to find anywhere there wasnt rock.
So we set up camp and then gathered fire wood. At one point James was walking in front of me and stepped on some big rocks. I stepped on them behind him and was looking down(I tend to trip a lot so I was being very careful) and saw the side of a snake sliding under the rock! I let out a yelp and jump from the rocks. James thought I was falling and caught me almost threw me back to the rock. I thought it was very nice he caught me. At least I know he will catch me when I fall. =)
I do not know what kind of snake it was or anything because all I could see was the side of it and when I looked after I lept it was completely hidden.
When we were walking back to our campsite there were 3 deer in a site close to ours! The obviously were used to people being around and not hurting them because they let us get really close to them before they started to go away. We were about 20 feet from them. I took several great pictures of them. Only to discover later that my camera had dumped all pictures and wouldnt save anything. It also said it was having a lens error. I was so disappointed in the pictures of the deer being gone. Later I figured out I could take out the SD card and get at least 10 pictures on the internal memory. So I at least got a few pictures.
It was hot and we wanted to cool down. We went down the mountain to the lake and swam for a while. I was demonstrating how to float with out a float for James and realized I had lost my glasses from the top of my hat!! I was so sick about that. Those are a lot of money and cant be replaced any time soon. James and I looked and couldnt find them. So we decided to prayfor help. After that we looked some more and still couldnt find them. I gave up and just swam for a little while. I heard another woman saying she had lost her glasses and I told her I did the same thing. She was still looking for hers and said she didnt doubt her ability to find them. She said she was very good at finding things. I didnt think much of it but them she found hers! I saw that hers were just sunglasses and told her mine were Rx ones.
She was very concerned because she said those are very expensive. She took it on herself to search for my glasses. I still didnt think there was any way she could find them because we had moved from where we were before but I told her the general area where we were when I lost them. She said she grew up on the river so she learned to find things really well in the muddy water. She said, "So if any one can find them I bet it will be me." She was searching for like 5 minutes and kept pulling up sticks thinking that was them. Then I look over at her and see her pull something out of the water. It was my glasses!!! I couldnt believe it! I am still shocked by it. But what had happened was right before she found them she said only way she would find them was with God's help and no sooner than she had those words out of her mouth than she picked them up off the bottom from the mud! I know HE put her there and made her lose her glasses to et me to talk to her and find both of our glasses! I am so very thankful for her faith and my Heavenly Fathers love to lead her to them! It was definately a tender mercy for just me.
That night we cooked tin foil burger meals. I cut up an onion and a couple potates and some carrot sticks. I put it all in foil and cooked it on the fire. They turned out great. We very much enjoyed our dinner. We also made s'mores for desert. I havent had those in years and enjoyed every bite of my two.
The next morning we got up early and headed to the trails. We took our map from the camp store and chose our path to the High Falls and set off. At the trail heads, we looked at the big topo map and saw some inconsistancies in our map. But we thought it would be ok and hiked on. At one point James is leading and I look at the ground as we hike and I saw something. I wasnt exactly sure but then realization set in and I thought out loud, "We just passed a snake." Not excitedly or anything just kind of a statement. With the way James took off though you would have thought I said it was next to his foot! =P
We go to the end of the second trail where it was supposed to end into another trail. We werent sure which way to go on the next trail. We looked at the direction of each side of the trail and thought it was to the left. Once we had walked a while the trail got smaller and more over grown. I could still see the trail and thought it just hadnt been used to often. James thought we should go back and go the other way. I convinced him to continue the way we'd come because we had already come so far that way and surely it would end out in the right place.
Well we walked and walk and walked and the trail completely disappeared! So we either had to go back the way we'd come(which was hard to tell where that was) or we try to cut through the woods to find the other trail. Yeah we did the crazy thing and cut through. We went for a while still not finding the trail and had to stop and get some water and rest for a minute. Thankfully there were plenty of oddly shaped trees to site on.
We continued on and found the trail after going up instead of straight like we had been hiking. We came out on what couldnt be mistaken for anything but the actaul trail. We could hear the water and went the way on the trail towards it. We crossed a little stream and thought if we kept going we might find the falls after all because at that point we didnt know which trail we had come out on. We went on for about another 3 miles or so and became frustrated because the trail was continueing to lead up the mountain away from the water.
We did not think we were going to get to the falls going the way we went so we turned around and headed back the way we came. We passed where we had came back onto the trail earlier and continued going back. We finally came back to where the trails met and realized we were on the right trail. We just went the wrong direction on it. So we went back and kept seeing things and thinking "Oh this was close to the start we are almost back" HA! We did that like 10 times and I told James we have got to stop saying that because I think its adding miles in front of us.
Once we made it back to the trail head we looked at the map. If we would have gone about 5 more miles where we turned around that last time we would have made it to the falls. James was very disappointed. He said, "We didnt make it to our destination and that really irritates me." He likes to finish what he starts. We calculatd what we did and thin we did about 20 miles total. I think that was pretty good for hiking 3 hours! Add in the fact that we are very much beginners and we did really good! =)
We went and jumped into the lake to cool down and had hot dogs for lunch. Then we went and hiked the small trail to the top of the mountain and looked out over the forrest. It was so beautiful up there. I could have stayed there forever! So peaceful and humbling. You really are just a speck when compared to the vast earth we live on. It really was so nice.
(this picture is zoomed in all the way to see the buildings in the distance)
Then we went to the pool and stayed there for a several hours. I told James he swims like a frog(The way he kicks his legs) and he called me a dolphin( I swim better under the water with my eyes open in the water than I do on top.)
Today we woke up broke down camp, showered and headed out. We went to Church in Sylacauga where I went when I lived there. I was so nice. So very different from where we go now and from what I remember as a kid but it was very nice to be there.
I cant wait till July when we all go as a family to Bear Island in North Carolina!! That will be so much fun! =D
All in all it was a really great trip!
Here's some of our adventures:
We took the scenic route which took us through Sylacauga. I took James on an unplanned tour of my hometown(or at least the place I consider my hometown being that Ive moved 27 times lol). I had a blast showing James all my "this is when I..." places. =P
Then we headed out on the road. Before we left I worte the directions down from Google maps. They were good till the end. We turned on the road we thought was the right road because it had the exact same name! But it wasnt because somehow we ended up going the way we had come without meaning to. We went to the end of that road and thought that was our next turn. Then we realized, "Wait a second! Didnt we just pass that old house and that chicken coop?!" LOL
So we turned around and went the other way and some how made it to the road we were supposed to be on. Once we got to the park, we went to check in and we told the girl we wanted the 'semi-primitive' site and she looked at us strangely and said "are you sure? Maybe you should go look at the two sites to make sure."
James and I look at eachother a little worried and tell her no we want those. After that I am thinking "Oh great! There is going to be something seriously wrong with the site." But it was to expensive to go to the "Improved site" so we took our chances. We went up to the site and descovered the were great! I dont know why she looked at us and said that but maybe we just didnt look like we wanted to truely tent camp. It was "semi" because it had picnic tables and fire rings. LOL It was a really nice place. Only problem we had was finding a place we could stake down our tent. Being on a mountain made it hard to find anywhere there wasnt rock.
So we set up camp and then gathered fire wood. At one point James was walking in front of me and stepped on some big rocks. I stepped on them behind him and was looking down(I tend to trip a lot so I was being very careful) and saw the side of a snake sliding under the rock! I let out a yelp and jump from the rocks. James thought I was falling and caught me almost threw me back to the rock. I thought it was very nice he caught me. At least I know he will catch me when I fall. =)
I do not know what kind of snake it was or anything because all I could see was the side of it and when I looked after I lept it was completely hidden.
When we were walking back to our campsite there were 3 deer in a site close to ours! The obviously were used to people being around and not hurting them because they let us get really close to them before they started to go away. We were about 20 feet from them. I took several great pictures of them. Only to discover later that my camera had dumped all pictures and wouldnt save anything. It also said it was having a lens error. I was so disappointed in the pictures of the deer being gone. Later I figured out I could take out the SD card and get at least 10 pictures on the internal memory. So I at least got a few pictures.
It was hot and we wanted to cool down. We went down the mountain to the lake and swam for a while. I was demonstrating how to float with out a float for James and realized I had lost my glasses from the top of my hat!! I was so sick about that. Those are a lot of money and cant be replaced any time soon. James and I looked and couldnt find them. So we decided to prayfor help. After that we looked some more and still couldnt find them. I gave up and just swam for a little while. I heard another woman saying she had lost her glasses and I told her I did the same thing. She was still looking for hers and said she didnt doubt her ability to find them. She said she was very good at finding things. I didnt think much of it but them she found hers! I saw that hers were just sunglasses and told her mine were Rx ones.
She was very concerned because she said those are very expensive. She took it on herself to search for my glasses. I still didnt think there was any way she could find them because we had moved from where we were before but I told her the general area where we were when I lost them. She said she grew up on the river so she learned to find things really well in the muddy water. She said, "So if any one can find them I bet it will be me." She was searching for like 5 minutes and kept pulling up sticks thinking that was them. Then I look over at her and see her pull something out of the water. It was my glasses!!! I couldnt believe it! I am still shocked by it. But what had happened was right before she found them she said only way she would find them was with God's help and no sooner than she had those words out of her mouth than she picked them up off the bottom from the mud! I know HE put her there and made her lose her glasses to et me to talk to her and find both of our glasses! I am so very thankful for her faith and my Heavenly Fathers love to lead her to them! It was definately a tender mercy for just me.
That night we cooked tin foil burger meals. I cut up an onion and a couple potates and some carrot sticks. I put it all in foil and cooked it on the fire. They turned out great. We very much enjoyed our dinner. We also made s'mores for desert. I havent had those in years and enjoyed every bite of my two.
The next morning we got up early and headed to the trails. We took our map from the camp store and chose our path to the High Falls and set off. At the trail heads, we looked at the big topo map and saw some inconsistancies in our map. But we thought it would be ok and hiked on. At one point James is leading and I look at the ground as we hike and I saw something. I wasnt exactly sure but then realization set in and I thought out loud, "We just passed a snake." Not excitedly or anything just kind of a statement. With the way James took off though you would have thought I said it was next to his foot! =P
We go to the end of the second trail where it was supposed to end into another trail. We werent sure which way to go on the next trail. We looked at the direction of each side of the trail and thought it was to the left. Once we had walked a while the trail got smaller and more over grown. I could still see the trail and thought it just hadnt been used to often. James thought we should go back and go the other way. I convinced him to continue the way we'd come because we had already come so far that way and surely it would end out in the right place.
Well we walked and walk and walked and the trail completely disappeared! So we either had to go back the way we'd come(which was hard to tell where that was) or we try to cut through the woods to find the other trail. Yeah we did the crazy thing and cut through. We went for a while still not finding the trail and had to stop and get some water and rest for a minute. Thankfully there were plenty of oddly shaped trees to site on.
We continued on and found the trail after going up instead of straight like we had been hiking. We came out on what couldnt be mistaken for anything but the actaul trail. We could hear the water and went the way on the trail towards it. We crossed a little stream and thought if we kept going we might find the falls after all because at that point we didnt know which trail we had come out on. We went on for about another 3 miles or so and became frustrated because the trail was continueing to lead up the mountain away from the water.
We did not think we were going to get to the falls going the way we went so we turned around and headed back the way we came. We passed where we had came back onto the trail earlier and continued going back. We finally came back to where the trails met and realized we were on the right trail. We just went the wrong direction on it. So we went back and kept seeing things and thinking "Oh this was close to the start we are almost back" HA! We did that like 10 times and I told James we have got to stop saying that because I think its adding miles in front of us.
Once we made it back to the trail head we looked at the map. If we would have gone about 5 more miles where we turned around that last time we would have made it to the falls. James was very disappointed. He said, "We didnt make it to our destination and that really irritates me." He likes to finish what he starts. We calculatd what we did and thin we did about 20 miles total. I think that was pretty good for hiking 3 hours! Add in the fact that we are very much beginners and we did really good! =)
We went and jumped into the lake to cool down and had hot dogs for lunch. Then we went and hiked the small trail to the top of the mountain and looked out over the forrest. It was so beautiful up there. I could have stayed there forever! So peaceful and humbling. You really are just a speck when compared to the vast earth we live on. It really was so nice.
(this picture is zoomed in all the way to see the buildings in the distance)
Then we went to the pool and stayed there for a several hours. I told James he swims like a frog(The way he kicks his legs) and he called me a dolphin( I swim better under the water with my eyes open in the water than I do on top.)
Today we woke up broke down camp, showered and headed out. We went to Church in Sylacauga where I went when I lived there. I was so nice. So very different from where we go now and from what I remember as a kid but it was very nice to be there.
I cant wait till July when we all go as a family to Bear Island in North Carolina!! That will be so much fun! =D
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