So, I am thinking that this particular memory goes in that category of “so-extremely-scary-at-the-time-but-so-completely-hilarious-later”.  What do you think, Autumn?  Well, besides a few shed tears and some elevated heart rates this morning, my birthday has been off to a great start so far!  Thank you, dear friend.  I love you!  Can’t wait to continue our tradition of strawberry pickin’ next year…just maybe at different, turkey-free farm.

It was worth the lack of sleep though.  I only get to see my family once or twice a year.  We had a great time!  Love you, Mommy and Jonathan.  Thanks for visiting!

Caleb will be 18 months old tomorrow.  I feel like I just birthed him yesterday!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

We gave JL his first buzz cut.  He had SO MUCH HAIR!  Not anymore though…
BEFORE:
AFTER:

Our first set of visitors was the Mellings and Sweazeys.  The Sweazeys only stayed with us for an evening, but it was great nevertheless.  Davy and Caleb are great with our kids and we have some good laughs when we are in their company.  What a sweet couple.  Jess and Pete flew all they way from MN to come see us one more time before Jess has her baby this summer.  We spent our days going over her baby registry, playing outside, going to a park, watching 2012, making food, getting into good discussions about life, and exploring downtown Wake Forest.  Uber-relaxing and uber-fun.

Jess and I go way back.  We were roommates all four years in college.  She took care of my teddy bear while I went on a 2-month long missions trip.  We cried about our future husbands’ deaths together (morbid, huh?) in our dorm closet.  We flew out to California one fall break to surprise my family.  She was in my wedding and I was in hers.  She was one of the first people to see and hold Joshua Lee when he was born.  She has flown out several times to visit me since I have moved to NC.  Needless to say, she is my dear friend and we have walked through a lot together.  I am thrilled she’s going to be a Mama soon because I am pretty stinkin’ sure she is gonna be a stellar one.  I only wish I lived closer so I could visit with the little guy.

Anyway, our time with them was great.  Jess’s husband, Pete, is pretty neat.  Him and Ben had tons to talk about regarding computers, art and whatnot.  We hope to see them again soon, but for now we have these pictures to remember them by!

How blessed I am to be “Mommy” to my two sweet and funny boys!  Mother’s Day is always a good opportunity to sit down and think about all the ways in which being a mother brings me so much joy…

• God gave me my two boys with their specific personalities.  I think it is SO CRAZY how different my two boys are, but yet I can love them both.  JL with his tender heart and his love for reading and Caleb with his comical spirit and his love for all things round.  JL loves to sleep and eat, but Caleb struggles with both of those areas (which means more gray hairs and fine wrinkles around my eyes for me).  JL with his fair, white skin and hazel eyes…Caleb with his darker, olive-colored skin and eyes blacker than my own.  It takes a little while to draw JL out of his shell and get him to open up, but anyone can read Caleb because he pretty much wears his emotions on his sleeve.  They are unique…the way God made them to be.  How fun it is to see their little personalities unravel over time!
• Being a mom serves to sanctify me.  The Lord has used motherhood to reveal to me sins in my heart…anger, discontentment, selfishness, impatience, and self-centeredness are only a few of them.  I am thankful for sleepless nights, waves of constant disciplining, tight budgets, constant clutter and endless piles of laundry.  For one, they PROVE that I a mother of two kids, but secondly, I have LEARNED that through these hard things, God is teaching me what it means to put others before myself.  Sometimes I can do it with a joyful heart and sometimes I can’t, but we’re all a work in process, right?
• I love being a mom with Ben by my side as the leader of our home.  He works HARD to do well at all things handed to him and parenting is one area in which he certainly excels.  I enjoy watching him patiently train JL to be a man of self-control, courage, servant-heartedness and bravery.  I love watching him do the icky things like cleaning out poopy cloth diapers, but still with a smile on his face.  The giggles he can solicit from the boys by tackling, tickling and wrestling with them are absolutely priceless.  Ben has had such a huge hand in forming what our family looks like and I am so thankful!
• I have learned that people are more important than things, which has brought me much joy.  Being at home with the boys means that we have less money to go all around, but IT IS WORTH IT!  Stylish clothing, trendy furniture, regularly eating out are itty, bitty luxuries compared to the value I have found in being at home with the kids.
• I love that my boys are my constant companions (for now…until they are embarassed to be seen hanging out with me).  We do Harris Teeter Triples together, we cruise around Target and look at shoes, we check out books at the library, we go to the park, we do chores around the house, we sing songs and giggle together…and the list keeps going.
• They teach me about Jesus, day in and day out.  How much I need Jesus, how much they need Jesus and how much the Gospel can enrich our lives and our relationships.  JL always thanks God in his prayers how He will never leave us or forsake us…so true!

I am so grateful that God has given me two great little boys to train up in the righteousness of the Lord and that He equips me to carry out such a daunting task.  Praise be to God, the Giver of Life!

Thank you, Dana, for these pictures taken at church!  I will end on this note…here’s a picture of an artistic masterpiece by my husband and boys!

Did you see JL’s coloring job?  I like how he colored in his own eyeballs.  Kinda demonic-looking, huh?  Ben suggested he NOT color in anyone else’s eyeballs.  JL happily agreed.

Caleb pointing at the skeletal remains of a whale hanging from the ceiling.

Toady-toad.

There were a gazillion snakes at this exhibit.  Personally, I found it terrifying.

First off, I have to say that I am in no way pushing homeschooling on anyone.  I don’t think homeschooling IS for every parent and child.  This totally depends on your current life situation, your personality as a parent, your child’s personality and his/her specific needs, what kind of support system you have, etc.  Some families have parents where both have to work…this is the economy we live in.  Some families have children with special needs which may be better addressed in a different setting.  As for us, we like the premise of homeschooling and how it gives us the opportunity to teach our children through a Biblical worldview.  This is great!  However, we have also decided that we can only make choices for our children’s schooling ONE YEAR AT A TIME.  I don’t know if I explained that well at all, but if you have any other questions, please e-mail me.

Now onto the nitty-gritty.  After much research and discussion with other mothers, we have decided to go with the classical model of homeschooling.  For more information on this, you can Google it and a lot of information can be found about it. We are currently using The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading by Jessie Wise and Sarah Buffington.  JL has really, really enjoyed it.  It doesn’t come with activities or stickers or any other bells and whistles; it is a simple book on teaching your child to read.  JL has run with it…he is reading books to his little brother now.

The book that has helped me teach JL how to read.

JL just turned 4, so our homeschooling is really not that intense yet.  Our desire for him right now is that he would LOVE learning.  We want him to be a life-long learner.  Here is what our day typically looks like with homeschooling incorporated into it.

7:30-8:00-Kids wake up and they have quiet play time in their room together, so I have a little extra time to get dressed and ready.

8:00-8:30-Breakfast

8:30-9:00-Chores for me and JL (washing/drying/folding laundry, prepping for lunch and dinner, washing dishes, etc.)

9:00-9:30-Reading with JL and Caleb (the Bible and other books/audio book)

9:30-10:00-Free play for JL while I catch up on e-mail, pay bills and the like; Caleb naps until

11:30 10:00-11:00-Homeschooling with JL (consists of the reading curriculum mentioned above and a hands-on craft)

11:00-11:30-I prep for lunch while JL independently does an activity.

11:30-12:15-Getting Caleb up and changed and eating lunch together

12:15-12:30-Clean-up after lunch

12:30-1:00-Free play for JL and Caleb

1:00-2:30-Errand-running with the kiddos or taking them to the park or library

2:30-4:30-Caleb has his afternoon nap and JL has a quiet time for some of that time.  I use this time to organize something, sew/make a gift, catch up on e-mails again, read, take a small nap, return phone calls, pay more bills, prep dinner, put away laundry.  There is always SOMEthing to do.

4:30-5:00-Kids have a little more free play and we set the table and finish up dinner prep.

Ben usually gets home between 5:15 and 5:30 and we eat. That’s what our basic day looks like, though we are extremely flexible.  There are some days where Caleb naps awful…I get less done around the house.  There are some days where we have people over for lunch and we go visit someone in the morning who could use some company/encouragement.  Sometimes we have playdates with other moms and their kids.  Sometimes life just gets REALLY crazy and the schedule goes completely out of the window.  That’s not ideal, but we manage just fine.

What I consider part of homeschooling is teaching my children about loving and serving others.  It is a time in which I can teach them how to be boys of godly character, how to love truth and hate lies, how to put others before themselves.  Every moment I have with them is a time of intentionality where I can be sharing with them the Gospel and show them what it means to follow Jesus and love Him.  And, maybe I’m just doing it all wrong, but each day is a new day… I’m learning, too!

So, homeschooling or non-homeschooling moms, what things do you do with your children each day that encourages them to love learning?  How do you point them to the Gospel amidst life’s daily happenings?

JL and a snowman he made out of some modeling clay one day.  This boy loves to create and imagine, much like his own Daddy.