Archives for August 2012

Sally B’s Skin Yummies – Traveler Kit

In my search for all things organic (better known as driving my family crazy), I haunt websites like One Good Thing by Jillee.

I recently found her sister blogging about things I LOVE at Camp Wander – go figure!

While I do make a lot of my own organic cleaners and want to make my own skin care I haven’t found the time to do it all yet. Therefore, I present……(drum roll, please)

Sally B’s Skin Yummies.

I found them online several months ago and ordered a few of their products. I loved them both. Just recently I received an email from them introducing their New Traveler Kit. Better known to me as Julie’s New Sampler Kit! It arrived in the mail just 2 days ago and so far I love all the products.

Shoot on over and check them out if you have time! There is also a coupon code: beauty that will give you 5% off your purchase. The Traveler Bag is a great way to sample 6 of their wonderful products.

And if you love to make your own and save money check out Camp Wander and One Good Thing By Jillee. Wouldn’t you love to live next door to them? Tell them Julie sent you!

Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

In Christian circles this book has been all the buzz for a couple years now. I believe we have 5 copies in our house. It’s an anointed little book. We have several of the one subtitled Devotions for Kids.

My friend, Scooper, who’s heart is near mine in this year of kids going to school…..something we never thought we’d do…..texted me saying, “Have you read Jesus Calling today?” This morning I finally remembered to do so. Although her experience was dropped in her lap like a bomb (Your kids need to be in school), mine came gradually over this past year (I’m sending them to school next year). Both are hard. Both are different.

On August 23rd Sarah Young writies:

GIVE YOUR LOVED ONES TO ME

Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son. – Genesis 22:12

It is important to love those around you. In fact, My second greatest command is to love your neighbors as you love yourself. But you must never forget My greatest command – to love Me with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Only I am God. And only I am worthy of worship.

Love your family, love your friends – but don’t worship them. Don’t let your love for them crowd out your love for Me. And don’t let a person become the center of your life.

Abraham had waited so long for a son. When Isaac finally came, Abraham was in danger of worshiping his son. I tested Abraham, and – as hard as it was – Abraham trusted Me to take care of Isaac. And I did.

Trust me to take care of your loved ones. They are safe with me. Me Presence never leaves them — just as I never leave you.

So for all you moms out there who leave your hearts on a school curb each morning know that not only does your heart get out of the car with your children but Jesus does too. Close your eyes and imagine Him walking with each one, holding their hands and surrounding them with legions of angels. It’s all Grace!! And as I’ve begun to tell myself daily, “Fly to Jesus and Live!” (lyrics by Chris Rice)

On School, Grace and Tears

My blog has been quiet the last two weeks. In that time we’ve gotten three children who’ve been homeschooled for five years or more off to school and the other child, who did go to school last year, enrolled and started at a separate school. Life for me, as I have known it, has changed. A few of my BFFs from VFA (very far away) have texted or emailed to ask, “Did they start school yet? You haven’t blogged about it.”

So here is the blog saying, “Yes, the kids have started school.”

It’s a huge adjustment year for us all. Each one of the six of us are being remolded, shaped, squeezed and loved upon by our Father. I have to say that although God has prepared me for these changes, taking upon the role of mom, prayer warrior and guide is hard. No longer are my children fully dependent upon me for all they do in a day. I sit in the afternoon and try to figure out their homework right alongside of them. I’m back in school, no longer the teacher, but the student.

I drop them off curbside and instead of four getting out five hop out. The extra traveler is my heart. It marches into the school right behind my kids. Then for 6 hours without them I’m on my knees. Not always physically there, but in my heart and in my soul I’m there. I’m raw. I’m happy. It’s not that it doesn’t feel right, it’s just hard. I scramble to try my best to cook, clean, rest, iron, be happy, patient and loving. Somedays I’m that mom. Somedays I’m not.

Yesterday I snapped at my husband. I spoke angrily to my oldest. I picked them up from school with a few goodies I never buy for them to let them know I missed them yesterday. I was glad to see them and wanted to give them an extra treat. Then one of them says the grape juice tastes like medicine. And I slightly begin to unravel. Do I get an “A” for effort, at least?

How long did it take me to learn to live life with a grateful heart, with an attitude of thankfulness, realizing I have to CHOOSE gratitude? I think I was in my 30’s. I actually feel my brain stop, switch gears and tell my heart to be thankful….to concentrate on all around me that is good and to let the little things slide. I wish and pray for this in my kids of 13,12,10 and 8.

“Thanks for cleaning my room or making my lunch or getting up 15 minutes early to make breakfast or putting a note in my lunchbox.” This fantasy world I sometimes long for isn’t necessarily realistic. I was a selfish stinker as a kid.

Sometimes, tho, the little things feel like big things. A tired mom maketh an overwhelmed mom. A mom who has homeschooled doesn’t understand why they (school) can’t get done in 7 hours what I can do in 4 hours. And why send home homework? Who invented homework? You (the school) has them for so many hours. Can’t they be mine after 3pm? Can’t families enjoy one another for a few hours between dinner, football practice, baths, packing lunches and getting to bed early enough to do it all over again at 6:30am the next morning? Where do they learn balance in all that?

Frustrated, yes.

Having to live with it anyway, yes.

Glad they are at school, yes.

Trusting in God’s plan for our family this year is what gets me through each day. Today is rest for me. I sit on my bed covered in a blanket and preparing for a nap. My good friend, Scooper, told me yesterday that one or two days of work equal just as many of rest for her right now. She so eloquently writes:

God uses a day gone awry and a life run amuck to show me that plans, the little ones and the big ones, are to be held loosely. Control is an illusion. Middle School brings anxiety. Life defies expectation. Beauty blooms out of brokenness.

God has been so faithful to encourage me and my children through this transition.

One of these days I’ll sip coffee on the back porch with my husband and the illusion of control will be there, if only for a moment. We’ll look at one another and smile. We’ve walked through yet another patch of raising kids His way and there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Scooper is right.

It’s ALL GRACE.

Every single bit of every single day is nothing more than abundantly lavished grace on thirsty children in need of The Father’s love. Whether we realize it or not.

2 Comments

Posted: August 23, 2012 by Julie |Category: Homeschooling | Our Family, Our Lives | Parenting | Tags: being real, homeschooling, school begins, trusting in God

Can LearningRx Work After 50? A LearningRx Review

God brings many interesting people into our lives. One such person, loved dearly by my entire family, is Ms. Kathy.

Ms. Kathy was a teacher for many years and has her M.ED. in Education and tutoring. Presently, she tutors children in reading, and tests homeschooled students to determine whether their performance is in compliance with state standards.

When Ms. Kathy tested my daughter, Danielle could not even finish the test for the grade level below her grade! When we explained to Ms. Kathy that we had just enrolled Danielle at LearningRx for one-on-one brain training, she suggested we finish Danielle’s brain training first, then bring her back for state testing.

Over the coming months, our progress with LearningRx piqued Kathy’s interest as she listened to me talk about the results I saw in my children. Since Kathy comes in contact with many children in the course of her tutoring, she was curious whether LearningRx would be a good resource for other families as well. Kathy decided to take the LearningRx brain skills assessment so she would understand the process a child goes through when walking through the doors of LearningRx. When Kathy got the results of her assessment, she discovered that she had amazingly high scores in Short-Term Memory, Logic and Reasoning, Visual Processing, Auditory Processing and Word Attack. She was deficient, however, in Processing Speed and Long-Term Memory.

Kathy, 63, looked in amazement at her scores. They pinpointed recent frustrating struggles in her life. Kathy hated that she would walk into a room and forget what she had gone there for. She hated her increasing need to write things down or she would complete forget them.

Kathy decided to try LearningRx’s Max Online program. Instead of training at the center she would train online at home. After faithfully spending an hour a day with the LearningRx intensive online program, life took an unexpected turn, and Kathy left the country to spend several months with her daughter overseas. Once she returned to the U.S. and settled back into a routine, Kathy decided to take a second cognitive assessment to see exactly how much LearningRx was improving her memory.

I crossed paths with her in the parking lot at LearningRx just a few weeks ago as she was going in to take her assessment. She was nervous, and hoped her assessment would show proof of the improvements she felt she was experiencing in real life. I talked with her a few days later to learn that her assessment scores were amazing! Ms. Kathy had increased her Processing Speed by 40 percentile points and her Long-Term Memory by 25 percentile points! She was so excited! I knew all along Kathy would do great. She is a determined and purposed woman with a real zest for life.

I asked her what real life results she was seeing at home. She said that the biggest thing that she has noticed is that she can find things now. She had been spending way too much time hunting for things throughout the day. Now she remembers right away where she’s left things. She is also taking a couple of college courses for recertification and is finding that she has to reread things a lot less and can work through the curriculum in a much more linear fashion. She also sees a big difference in how quickly she processes information while she is driving. She foresees a flood of her friends who are sixtysomething flocking to LearningRx once they hear of her experience.

Kathy is my first friend who is over 60 and a graduate of a LearningRx brain training program. I am so excited to have played even a small role in her new relationship with LearningRx. Since she has discovered what LearningRx can do, she refers many of her tutoring students to LearningRx, too. LearningRx brain training is proving to be a blessing not only to me and my family, but now Ms. Kathy, her friends, and the struggling students she works with now and in the future, too!

(Read the beginning of our family’s LearningRx story here! Our daughter just tested and her scores were amazing!! I can’t wait to tell you about each our three children’s progress!!)

To read more LearningRx reviews and stories from other parents visit: http://www.learningrx-reviews.com/

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Burrowing Owls

When I have on my photography hat I stalk the pages of UglyHedgehog.com

It’s an amazing site where you can learn more about photography, ask questions, have your photography critiqued among other cool things.

I ran across these photos while perusing their site one day and thought them remarkable. They were taken by Bill Grabinski. He was kind enough to give me permission to use them here to show you guys!

I have a fondness for owls. I find them to be amazing and curious creatures. I’ve only seen a few in my 47 years so having photos someone actually took, meaning the sweet little owls were still enough for a photo shoot is just inspiring to me.

They look so wise! And in this photo look so mad especially the one on the bottom.

I like the way the one on the right looks a bit curious now. “Hey dude, what are you doing with that black thing in your hand?”

And the one on the left is still just mad at the world!!! They seriously crack me up!

Thanks for indulging me this morning! Go Owls!! (and thanks Bill Grabinski for the beautiful shots)

1 Comment

Posted: August 8, 2012 by Julie |Category: Photography and Tips | Tags: burrowing owls, owls Bill Grabinski

Life before school!

I’m entering a new season of life.

All four of the kids start school in 2 weeks. We’ve homeschooled since K5 and had some of them in school for one reason or another, but for the majority of our lives we’ve homeschooled.

But this year God had something different in mind. So I’ve been busy buying school clothing, as they are in private school. I ordered all the shirts today and know we must go try on pants and shorts. I’m excited about the good God has planned for my family. I’m looking forward to a little downtime. I want to take a photography course. I want to have lunch with my husband. I want to spend some time training my brain at LearningRx. After putting three kids through the program I am ready to be smarter too!! I promised the results post weeks ago, and it’s coming. It has just taken longer to put together.

So all you moms out there who are ‘my kids go to school’ veterans do have any advice to offer? I’m going to have four coming home with homework, football practices and a husband who has to travel at times for his job.

Tips? Survival tools? Cool hang outs when your kids are at school? I’m ready for you to dish!!!

3 Comments

Posted: August 1, 2012 by Julie |Category: Our Family, Our Lives | Tags: