Life is busy, not too busy to start posting again. Re-post from 2017 with an update!

The past year and a half has been amazing. I can't believe that I now have a 7 year old, 9 year old, 12 year old, 14, 17, and 19 year old at home still. In addition, I have a 22 year old expecting her second baby and an amazing 25 year old son through marriage. I feel so blessed, but at the same time I feel that I'm living life in the fast lane.
There is nothing I love more than being a mom to my amazing 7 children and bonding with my grandson and future second grandchild. I have decided that I want to take the name of my grandma who I admired more than anything...Meemaw and I hope Papa becomes a hit for Wes.
It's almost time for school to begin for the 2017-18 school year and I still need to decide on what we are using for curriculum. The kids are so excited because they will be attending the Specialty Program called Edventure through Inspire two days a week. But, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we need to figure out what we are going to do. My hearts desire is to bring our family together again and learn and read together. So, I'm drawn to Bookshark, but I really want to use something that has Biblical principals woven in throughout the lessons. I'm also drawn to My Fathers World and Angela O'Dells curriculum for history. Do any of my readers have experience with these curriculum choices?

Lately we've been watching episodes of "When Calls The Heart" as a family with my youngest three. It is such a blessing to watch something that was produced by my all time favorite producer's son...Michael Landon Jr. I grew up watching "Little House on the Prairie" every Monday night on NBC at 8:00. When Calls the Heart has the same values interwoven in the themes. I love it.

Here is a very cute picture from our last weekend at Lake Almanor. Jeff and Emily's amazing church held a Family Camp. We had a great time and can't wait for next year.

UPDATE: My grandma name is actually Mimi (which is little Meemaw) and that way my grandma stayed the one and only Meemaw. Also, our then 17 year old daughter is now married to the love of her life, Kris Channell and lives in Lake Tahoe with her new baby boy, Brayden. But, I will have to save that story for another post. Wow, so much to write about. I'm glad to be blogging again! 

XOXO

I'm going to be a Grandma? Re-posted from 2015 with a surprise blessing!

My oldest is newly married and expecting her first baby and I'm going to be a Grandma! I am so excited and amazed at God's goodness all at the same time. God is so incredible. I remember being a little girl pretending to be married and a mama. That is all I ever wanted to be! God gave me a good and godly man to marry and raise a family with and we have been so abundantly blessed. My five year old is going to be an aunt and I will hopefully never have an empty nest as the generations just continue to happen.

I had an incredible Grandma who I was very close to. She was known as "Meemaw" to all of her grandchildren and I think about her and miss her every day. I also remember when I was a little girl wishing and hoping that I would be a young Grandma someday like my Grandma was. Meemaw was 44 when she became a Grandma, my Mom was also 44 and I will be either 44 or 45 depending on when this new little one enters the world. God has truly given me the desires of my heart in which he planted there long ago.

However, I have had a hard time adjusting to this new season. It is bitter sweet because "my vision" and dream was that all of my children and grandchildren would live on the same street or just around the corner from us so we could be a part of their everyday lives. I could bake cookies for them and truly know them and play a significant part in their lives. But, God has other plans and my daughter and new son-in-law have moved three hours away. I am so thankful it isn't further than three hours, but also sad that it isn't closer. I fear we will miss opportunities I had hoped for like lazy days of stopping by just to say "hi", Sunday family dinners, babysitting for date nights, or just hang out time, but I rest in the peace knowing God has our lives in His hands and my plans are not always His plans. I trust we will do our best to stay involved and make EVERY moment matter.

An incredible blessing from this beautiful marriage was our Son-in-law. He is so perfect for our oldest and we are so thankful for him. He is so patient and considerate of her and her needs. He is caring and loving to her and it is so beautiful to watch their love grow. They are going to be incredible parents. We are so proud of them both and the decision they have made to follow God with all of their hearts. God paved the way for them to meet and their courtship was so sweet.

Just a few weeks ago, when they were still here, we were recalling some special moments in their relationship. Soon after we moved to Cool, Emily began singing on the Worship Team at our new church. Her now husband volunteered on sound, so he got to see her sing quite regularly. She sang the song "Blessings" one Sunday that summer and he remembered his mom leaning over to him and whispering "you need to find a girl like that to marry." One day, around the same point in time, Emily was talking to an old friend and decided to play a joke on her. She told her she was engaged to a guy here in Cool already and his name was Jeff Lomas (her now husband)! I couldn't believe she was saying that, since at that point she didn't know Jeff, and told her she shouldn't say that since he or his family could find out in this small town. She just laughed. I guess it was providence.

So, even though they are not down the street I am thankful we are not too far away. I pray for the everyday that God will continue to bless their lives and that their love will continue to grow.

UPDATE: In 2018, shortly after my sweet grand-daughter, Kinsley was born, our daughter Emily, Jeff, Tucker, and Kinsley bought a house only 4 houses down the street from us! God is so good! We just couldn't believe it when it happened and now we get to see our adorable grand-kiddos all the time! Of course they will be homeschooled and it will be so fun helping out when that new adventure begins! 

Welcome to the NEW Heart of Homeschooling BLOG!

Dear Heart of Homeschooling Members, 

I'm so excited to welcome you to the HOH Blog! Truth be told I'm merging a blog I started almost 10 years ago when I was homeschooling 7 children ages 1 to 15. Life was busy in a different way back then, but I thought HOH members might glean some thoughts and tips from what I wrote way back then. Now that I've got Heart of Homeschooling running smoothly, I thought I would start up the Blog writing again. I love to write about family, homeschooling, and what God is doing in my life. My hope and prayer is that this will be a blessing for you and an encouragement in your homeschool journey. 

Since this is the first post officially for Heart of Homeschooling I want to first of all welcome all of you! If you are new and haven't joined our Facebook group, please do so today. You can join HERE. Please also like our Facebook PAGE. You can find out information about our courses on our website: www.heartofhomeschooling.org. 

The other thing I wanted to talk to you about was a little about me and why I created Heart of Homeschooling. I chose this picture because I wouldn't have been who I am today without my sweet hubby, the love of my life. I am more in love with this guy today more than ever and I can't wait to share with you my secret...stay tuned to Part 2 of the story.

Oh boy, where to start? I guess I can go back to when I was a teenager. I want to go back that far so I can share how God perfectly placed me in situations to direct my path and grow me spiritually to prepare me for the next place he was going to take me all without me knowing this was happening...LOL. 

So, when I was a teen my mom was a church secretary and I was the oldest with two little brothers that were 10 and 12 years younger than I was. There was a Christian school at the church and when I was about 14 or 15 I started working in the "After School Program." I loved it and it was then that God planted the seed of teaching in my heart, but I didn't know it yet. I also loved to plan and listen when someone was going through a hard time so I thought I would be a psychologist. 

I transferred from Orange Coast College to Point Loma Nazarene University my Sophomore year and met the love of my life in the second month there. I was a Psychology major on my way to a doctorate. However, God had other plans. My roommate was on the Teacher path and would talk to me about her love of education. Well, fast forward a couple of years and now I'm engaged to my love, realizing I really just want to be a mommy and wife so I quickly change gears to the Teacher Credential program which I finish after our wedding adding one more year to my studies. This worked out fine as we got to live in the brand new Married Housing condos for $500/month with an ocean view! Wow, we had no idea what God was blessing us with! 

During my 2nd Student Teaching assignment I learned about a little school in Kane'ohe that needed a 5th grade teacher for the following year. After a one hour phone interview I was hired and we were moving to Hawaii which happened to be both of our dreams since we were little. Coincidence? No way! That's how God works. He planted the seeds of a love of the islands in our hearts before we even met. 

We moved to O'ahu in August and the first Sunday church service a guy hired my husband to do construction and we were set. I worked 2 years teaching with a beautiful ocean view from my classroom and students who loved to learn. We found out we were expecting our first baby and made the very difficult decision to move back to the mainland to be near family. It was a decision that we knew was the right one, but will forever feel sad about. There isn't a day that goes by that we don't miss Hawaii. 

We moved in with my in-laws when Emily was about 6 weeks with very little money, but a lot of love. We ended up living with them for 9 months and they were so gracious to welcome us. That's what family is for, right? 

Then Wes got a job in Santa Cruz. All I knew of Santa Cruz was from "The Lost Boys" movie. I asked him if there was any chance that vampires really lived there...LOL. We were moving again in June of 1996. My biggest concern was finding a community and I found one right away at a wonderful church called Twin Lakes. We got plugged in right away and about a year later I was expecting our second baby girl, Sarah. About this time I started thinking I would start tutoring to help make ends meet and we were able to buy a 2 bedroom mobile home within a walk from the ocean. It was a sweet starter home and the amazing thing in Santa Cruz is that mobile homes actually increase in value. 

That first home that we owned was the best. We had a little yard, we were at the end of a cul-de-sac, a community pool, and walking distance to pizza and the beach. AMAZING. We felt so blessed. In 1999 I found out I was expecting again, due in July of 2000 and we began looking for a bigger house. You see the mobile home park had a rule you couldn't have more than 4 people in a 2 bedroom unit, so we were going to be in trouble soon. 

We soon found out God had a plan the whole time...but I think I will make this a to be continued since it's getting a little long. I just have to say that God is so amazing. When we put our faith, hope, and trust in Him, He will not let you down. He worked some pretty awesome miracles for us to move not once but twice to our dream homes and, again, we had no idea how it was going to happen. 

Next week I will continue the rest of the story.