Self Portrait by Cerah

FEAR

I read a quote today that said fear really stands for False Evidence Appearing Real.  What truth there is in that.  Lately I have become my own worst enemy when it comes to homeschooling the girls.  I question whether they are really learning enough; if they are behind; if they have enough socialization; if I am doing a disservice to them by keeping them home; are they missing something by not being in school; am I damaging them because they don't spend 6 hours a day doing schoolwork; can they make it in college; can they make it in the real world; do they have enough friends; are they HAPPY?
And then suddenly God knows that I am overwhelmed with doubt and just in time he sends a message to me.  I am able to step back and see what I am teaching them and what they are getting from me. 
I am teaching them to enjoy the small, everyday things.  They are learning that being curious is more important than being smart.  They are learning to dream and they are learning that nothing can keep them from those dreams.  They are learning to love themselves and the people around them.  They are learning that sometimes you learn more by playing than you do by studying.  They are learning to play.  They are learning how to adapt to the world around them.  I am teaching them to enjoy the world.  I am teaching them that they are never too old to stop learning. I am teaching them to accept themselves and others for who they are.  I am teaching them to appreciate our differences.  I am teaching them that knowledge is not found in a textbook.  I am teaching them that real success isn't found in what grades they get but in how they have changed someone's life.  I am teaching them that God is always the answer.
I am giving them security, self worth, love, imagination, freedom to be who they want to be, dreams, confidence, character, inner beauty, and faith.  I am preparing them for this world the best that I know how. 
What do I want them to learn?  I want them to learn to stop and smell the roses; that it's o.k to daydream; and that life is about so much more than what kind of grades they receive, how much money they make, or how popular they are.  I want them to learn that they have to make their own happiness.  I want them to know that their life will be what they choose to make it. 
So, do I think that a school could do better than me?  NO.  I don't think they can because a school can only fill their heads with facts.  I am filling their hearts with knowledge and God is filling them with wisdom. 

Better than Krispy Kreme

Cerah made donuts today.

Big, yummy glazed ones

Look at all that goodness right out of the fryer

We had powdered sugar donut holes

sugar donut holes

cinnamon sugar donut holes

even old fashioned donut holes for those who like things simple

powdered sugar donut something

and a hand in the picture just for comparison

YUM!!

Nothing much

People always ask us what we've been doing and usually the answer is nothing much.  Then I get asked why I haven't put anything on here lately and the answer is because we haven't been doing anything.  But, you still want to see pictures so I decided to post our pictures of doing nothing much.  I take them but I didn't really think you would be interested - apparently you are though. 

Morgan on a typical day of doing math

Cerah doing math

and more math

Morgan working on chemistry

trying to write out notecards on the periodic table of elements

Still more math just a different day

Even the dogs don't do anything

just lay around

and take naps

What went wrong

This week we had 12 people at our house.  Granted we usually have 10 but the extra 2 just seemed to set off a chain of events that by the end of the week had me realizing there was nothing left to do but laugh.  It wasn't their fault at all, in fact most of the things that happened involved animals, but it struck me as funny that everything happened after they showed up.
To start off I woke up one morning to dog puke all over my living room floor.  The next morning it was dog poop that the dog then walked in and ground into my carpet.

Blame this dog

this is part of my carpet I managed to get mostly clean but you can still see the stain

This is the part of my carpet that I could not get clean.  Gross huh?

And then this dog with her penchant for running and not coming back

combined with ice like this on the stairs

resulted in this and an emergency trip to the doctor to make sure it wasn't broken.

It wasn't, it's a torn tendon.  This happened on the same day the dog pooped all over my carpet and the day that

This cat, who had to be put in Hannah's room for the week along with my sister's other 3 cats,

did this:

It may not seem like much but this plastic over Hannah's window is the only thing that keeps the wind from BLOWING into her room.  We had to try and fix it with packing tape

This one too.  You would think the cat would have learned there was plastic there and she couldn't get up.  But no, she had to keep trying

Then one of them decided to puke all over Hannah's bed so all the bedding had to be washed.  I came home to this from taking Rob to the Dr.'s office.  I was already mad at the dogs and then this just pushed me over the edge.  The girls, however, knew I was upset so they had all the bedding washing before I got home.

See this?  It's our fish tank that holds 2 bettas.  We have a partition in the middle that separates them so they don't fight and kill each other

Only if you look close at the bottom left part of the picture you will notice that there is only one fish.

Yep, Cerah's other fish up and died on her the day the dog vomited on the carpet so we were trying to get the dead fish out before it released chemicals that would kill this one.  Then we had to take this one out and empty the water, sanitize the tank, and get Chloe back in before the shock got to her.

And this, this is my kitchen window that no longer has curtains because I had to move them

to the living room since the blinds I had in here decided to just rip in half when we tried to close them one evening. 

Thank goodness all of this happened from Monday to Wednesday.  If it had gone on much longer I am pretty sure I would have started laughing and not been able to stop.  More happened this week, much more, but I have decided to just share our adventures with the animals and the curtains so that I may preserve some of my sanity.

I will say that this was a christmas week I will never forget.  And you know - I wouldn't change it for the world.  All in all we still had a wonderful week spent with our family. 

Hooray for a new year in 2011!