2011 August

My Birthday and the Start of a New Series!

August 26, 2011 By Courtney 99 Comments

I may be on a bloggy break BUT I still love a Party! So let’s keep my birthday party going with Women Living Well’s Wednesday Link-Up Party!!! Join the fun, do a little blog hopping and don’t forget if you join below -please add the Women Living Well Wednesdays button to your post so your readers can find us here! (Posts can include the topics of marriage, parenting, homemaking, finances, recipes, organization and more!)

To find the code go to the sidebar – or right click and “save as” the button and then upload it into your post!

You will find the “link-up” down at the bottom of this post from last Friday!

I’ll be back on Monday with the start of the New Marriage Series! Thank you for your comments and questions so far. Many of your questions have been deep, troubling, heart breaking and are making me think. I am praying for you all and praying over my answers. I’ll be back on Monday!

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(Previously posted on Friday, August 26, 2011)

Guess what? I have a birthday twin!!! Today is my birthday AND it’s Janelle’s birthday (from Comfy In The Kitchen) ! Isn’t that crazy? Too fun! So she has the day off from cooking and they’ll be no featured recipe today! The picture above is from when she and I celebrated with friends earlier this week.

I’ve shared in the past that on my birthday, I always read verses addressing the issue of selfishness.

Why address selfishness on my birthday? Because I have noticed in past years – since having children – that the temptation to feel that I deserve a “special” day on my birthday has begun to creep in. Of course – when it actually turns out really special and everything goes my way – I am happy. But oh – if the kids are difficult and my husband has forgotten to buy me a present – I turn into a grouch and for some reason I feel justified – it’s my birthday! But I don’t see an exception clause in the Bible for selfishness on special occasions (like Mother’s Day – for some reason selfishness creeps in on that day too – yucko!).

I Corinthians 13:5 says Love “is not self-seeking” – so whether it’s my birthday or not – my kids should not have to go through the day with a “self-seeking” mommy. Philippians 2:3 says “Do nothing out of selfish ambition” – my husband should not have to go through the day on pins and needles trying to make his wife happy.

Acts 20:35 says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

This principle is true everyday of the year and on Birthdays too – because God’s word is always true. “It is more blessed to give than to receive” – even on my birthday!

~Originally posted 8/26/09

So it’s a new day and a new year! I’m 36 years old today and feeling blessed! So to kick off my new year, I’m giving myself a BLOGGY BREAK lol! I am taking next week off from blogging but I’ll be around on Facebook and Twitter.

When I return it will be September and I will begin A NEW SERIES ON MARRIAGE. Over the years, I have received hundreds of emails with marriage questions and I regret that I cannot answer them all. So while I am on break, if you have a burning marriage question, would you quietly slip it into the comments section on this post here publicly (not in my inbox). You can post anonymously – just enter your email address as anonymous@anonymous.comI will choose a handful of questions to answer publicly in the month of September.

If you are an older, wiser woman who reads my blog or you have experience in counselling or working with married couples in your church, please feel free to advise ladies in my comments section, as I will not be able to answer all the questions that are posted (if more than a handful are asked). I look forward to this discussion as we journey together toward being the wives God has called us to be. For those who participate in Women Living Well’s Wednesday link-up, it will be on the bottom of this post on Wednesday (I’ll plug in Linky Tools on Tuesday night at 10pmish!)

See you in September!

Walk with the King!

Ps. While I’m off, enrollment for the Fall Good Morning Girls session will begin. I hope you will join me for a study in the book of I John. Click here for all the details.

Filed Under: Birthday Thoughts, Women Living Well Wednesdays

Our First Day of School Pictures

August 25, 2011 By Courtney 30 Comments

We started out with a Daddy Donut Day!

Then took pictures holding up the grade level we are in!

Then we put our backpacks on and headed to our new homeschool class called Classical Conversations - which we will be attending one day a week! (for details about this class - I wrote about it here)

Here are the kids outside their new classroom. We meet at a local church. There were first day butterflies that quickly subsided once class began.

Here they are with the entire group during opening session.

They start out with pledges and then family presentations. Alexis volunteered to hold up the pledge words (on the far right)…I’d say she’s just like her mama getting up there with no fear but later she played shy a lot so I’m still learning about her personality.

They have a fantastic teacher! (actually they call them tutors because I am their teacher). In this picture she is teaching Latin with hand motions.

Here they are tracing the 5 states of the week. They will be memorizing all the states and capitals this year.

After 3 hours of class, the kids head to the church’s indoor slides for recess. Afterwards, we go to the cafeteria to eat lunch together.

Then we head back home to do the rest of our homeschooling at home.

It was an excellent first day. The kids loved class and made new friends! I’ve remained on schedule with my cooking and cleaning but I lost my voice on Wednesday, so we have yet to implement our NEW homeschool schedule. I’m on anti-biotics and drinking hot tea with honey and praying I’m all better soon so we can dig into our new curriculum! (If you remember last year’s first day of school ,we had a mishap of a toilet overflowing and running into our kitchen light fixture! It seems that first weeks do not agree with us lol!)

How was your first day?

Walk with the King,

Filed Under: Homeschooling

WLW Link-Up Party and My Top 3!

August 23, 2011 By Courtney 15 Comments

Today I thought I’d post 3 links to homeschool rooms – I’ve been looking at them for inspiration! Mine is not done yet – but when it is I’ll take pictures and share it with you !

1. The picture above is the school room of Erica from Confessions of a Homeschooler! Oh to be this organized! Wowsa! Click the link to see more pictures of her amazing room!

2. This picture above is from Mama Hall’s organized School Room! I have met Mama Hall twice at conferences and this girl loves the Lord and loves her kiddos. This organizational chart is so cool! It covers a lot of bases! Very nice!

3. And my final fave is Ann Voskamp’s school room. I am not able to lift photos from her blog – so you gotta click over and see her amazing space – with beautiful bookshelves, a couch, candles lit and wall posters of maps and charts that are a feast for the mind!

Now it’s your turn! It’s Women Living Well’s Wednesday Link-Up Party!!! Join the fun, do a little blog hopping and don’t forget if you join below -please add the Women Living Well Wednesdays button to your post so your readers can find us here! (Posts can include the topics of marriage, parenting, homemaking, finances, recipes, organization and more!)

To find the code go to the sidebar – or right click and “save as” the button and then upload it into your post!

Walk with the King!

Filed Under: Homeschooling, Women Living Well Wednesdays

My 2011 Schedules for Cleaning, Meals and School

August 22, 2011 By Courtney 53 Comments

I recognize that not everyone enjoys living life on a schedule. God has made us all unique with different personalities and preferences. I personally thrive on a schedule as does the rest of my family. But if this sort of thing makes you gag lol! know that God made you differently for his purposes and that is what makes the body of Christ beautiful!

My inspiration for my schedules is the Proverbs 31 woman. Proverbs 31:27 says, “She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idlenss.” My schedule helps me to watch over all the affairs – or happenings – in my household. And it keeps me from wasting time on things that may get in the way of my priorities.

Everything in nature has a rhythm – seasons flow from summer to fall to winter to spring and then back to summer again. The sun rises and sets and the tides come in and out on a rhythm. But even in nature there are storms, tornados, and hurricanes – unexpected happenings that interrupt the expected. I know that my family will face storms and moments when the unexpected happens and our flow will have to flex.

So I have discovered a tool that I am using for the very first time this year called “Managers of Their Homes” by Steven and Teri Maxwell.

The Maxwell’s say ~ “Scheduling will not be the power of energy in your successful home management…any success in our homes comes from Jesus Christ around whom everything must revolve…We do not rely on the strength of our schedule but on the strength of our Lord Jesus Christ.” pg2

So let me begin by sharing with you my weekly cleaning schedule that I’ve used off and on for 2+ years. I have found that if the children and I do an hour or two of housework a day, I can maintain a fairly orderly home all week long without feeling like I’m cleaning all of the time. (side note- if guests are coming this schedule changes and I clean the entire house top to bottom in 1-2 days so it is all clean at once) I love the alliteration of this schedule which makes it easy for everyone in the house to remember what the tasks of the day are!

Cleaning Schedule:

Mondays – Menu and Market (we grocery shop in the late afternoon)

Tuesdays – Toilets, Tubs, Towels (Bathroom day!)

Wednesdays – Wash Day (we run and fold 6 +/- loads of laundry)

Thursdays – Dust

Fridays – Floors

Next is the meal schedule (did you realize you are going to potentially cook 1,000 meals this year! Might as well have an efficient plan right?) - which is similiar to the cleaning schedule with the alliteration:

Meal Schedule:

Mexican Monday

Tomato-ey Tuesday

Wild-Card Wednesday

Thrifty & Thankful Thursday

Fancy Friday (sometimes Fish Friday)

Soup and Sandwich Saturday

Simple Sunday (We usually eat lunch out - so dinner is light)

And finally there’s my personal daily plan that squeezes in exercise, devotions, homeschooling, blogging, social media, hubby time, real life ministry, friends and housework! Here’s a sample of a typical day (but we all know that rarely are days typical!)

Weekday Schedule

6am – Wake, head to exercise at my local YMCA 1 minute away, come home and clean-up

7am – Devotions

7:30 – Email my Good Morning Girls and check social media

8am – Breakfast and Bible Reading with the Children

8:30 – Oversee Chores

9am – one on one time with each child doing phonics while the other child showers

10am – Classical Conversations (History/Science)

10:30 – Handwriting and Grammar

11:00 Math

11:30 – Computer Time for me, piano practice for Lexi

12 – Lunch

12:30 – Cleaning for me, free play for the children

1 – Classical Conversations Memory Work (Latin, History)

1:30 – Reading

2 – Computer time for me, craft or game time for the children

2:30 – Roomtime, Rest, Read, Write

3:30 – Cleaning for me, TV Time and snack for the children

4:30 – Dinner Prep, Children are my helpers where needed

5:30 – Dinner

6 – Dinner Clean-up as a family

6:30 – free time

8 – Family Reading, talking and prayer time

8:30 – Time with my husband

9:30 – Post Blog post for the next day, social media

10:30 – Read or rub hubby’s back

11:00 – zzzzzzzzzz

This is my ideal day and week – but we all know that life does not fit neatly into 30 minute boxes. Daily there will be things that change the schedule such as homeschool group, gymnastics, football, Karate and piano lessons. So we enter the school year in prayer and trust that God will be our ultimate guide each day.

Do you have any new fall schedules you can share with me? I’d love to hear about them!

Walk with the King,

*High Fives to Nikki and Denice for sharing your schedules with me that I now use !