Trying To Look Like Jesus

  Just two kids,  crazy about each other without a clue as to how to properly love each other. Oh if they only knew how Jesus would come through for them in a miraculous way. But they had to go through hell first and when they got to the other side they would have to decide if they would stay together and fight for their lives and the lives and futures of their children.  In our first fifteen years of life we dated, were engaged, married, had children, and bought a home. I mean we went all the way, but along the way, I was not who I seemed to be. I was making terrible choices with irreparable consequences.  I knew growing up, I wanted to be a good mom. I read books to prepare myself and continued to read a lot of books because I wanted to be the best mom! I wanted to do better than my mom. I think we all strive to be better than our parents.  But in my pursuit to be the "best mom",  I failed to consider the one who made me a mom. I was driven by my emotions...

  Proverbs 31:21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household [are] clothed with scarlet. Twenty-twenty caught many off guard. We had many expectations for this year but the Lord allowed other plans. I expected to see my last homeschooler take part in "rite of passage" events for her senior year. It looked much different than we expected. We didn't expect Noah to have to come back home two days after flying to school. Then driving in April to pack up his things and haul it all back home. That was awful. But we did it. We got through it. We didn't expect to have to buy a new car in the middle of a pandemic because our very old and faithful car gave up the ghost. I could literally go on and on. I'm not gonna lie, 2020 stunk BIG. It really was just one thing after another this year. We didn't expect many things that happened this year, but we were ready. We were ready because of the trials that we had been through already. Those trials p...

There they are! My college kids:) The class of 2021, 2022, and 2023. I can't stop smiling at this picture. I'm almost in disbelief that this is happening but, here we are. Ending my homeschooling journey is hard. I just deleted my homeschool bookmark on my laptop. I won't need that anymore. I think the only thing helping me keep it together is Lily will be commuting to college instead of moving away. I've been helping her get ready by ordering books and scrubs and buying school supplies. It is a nice way to transition out of my normal August routine of buying "our" homeschool supplies. I'm so incredibly proud of each of the kids choosing to continue their education.  Honestly, it was always my goal for them. But I wanted them to choose it for themselves. It's important to allow them to choose a God-directed path in life and it makes me so happy to see that college is a part of that path. I always regretted not finishing my degree. I guess it's neve...

This is it! This is what I've been working towards. Successfully homeschooling all three children through high school, so that they can go to college and pursue their interests maybe even their dreams. Brooke is in her senior year of college and working on her internship as I type. Noah will be entering his junior year this fall, what?! And my baby, my Lily monster (as we used to call her because she would literally snarl and growl at people), will be entering her freshman year at a local college. I'm so thankful at least one of my kids is staying close to home instead of going hundreds of miles away! It all began with Brooke being homeschooled and honestly, I loved it so much, the very next school year, I started homeschooling Noah and Lily. It was challenging because it was high school and grade school so I felt like I was going in different directions but, researching curriculum and worksheets and science experiments was thrilling to me. It was very challenging but I loved i...

This weekend we drove to Ohio to move out Noah from his dorm room. We drove out Friday, stayed in a hotel that night, then woke up Saturday morning to pack up his room and drove right back home. It was a whirlwind of a weekend. It almost feels like a dream. When we go to Ohio, we always try to make the best of it but this time felt different. It felt like we were doing something illegal by leaving the state. Would driving out of state to pack up a dorm room be deemed "essential" to the cop who could pull us over? Sure, we had some laughs. It's what our family does best I think. But there definitely was a somber undertone to the quick trip. Would we unknowingly pick up the virus during our travels even though we were so very careful. It was a stressful trip. We were hyper-vigilant about our environment like never before. Before stepping into our hotel room, I wiped and/or sprayed EVERYTHING down!! Eating out was difficult but we had no choice so we prayed extra f...

About 10 days ago, America was turned upside down because of a fast-moving virus, Covid-19. On Thursday, March 12, I went to the grocery store to do my normal grocery shopping. There was plenty of water, toilet paper, food, and household cleansers. The very next day, with every news channel constantly talking about what may happen in the next few days, I decided to go back out to the stores and grab a few extra essentials, "just in case". I've never seen anything like it. Seemingly and actually overnight, there was a mad dash from the public to panic buy as if a blizzard was coming. The shelves, which just the previous day was stocked, were now empty. It was honestly one of the most frightening things I've ever experienced. I began to buy things that I wasn't even sure I needed. The sense of urgency to buy dry or canned goods was heightened. I looked for toilet paper, gone. I looked for disinfectant wipes, none! My anxiety was through the roof thinking abo...