Wednesday, August 26, 2009

this and that

School is going amazingly well the past week and a half. It is crazy, but I feel much better about everything when we are doing school. I think it is the routine where I have just been kinda lazy all summer.

Abby starts volleyball games next week. My in laws are coming to visit and Pioneers clubs begin at church! Busy September. I am excited though because I felt a hint of fall while I was on the porch yesterday. Whoo Hooo!

We are still asking the Lord to give us direction on adoption. We have looked and prayed over different countries and agencies and we still feel led to Ethiopia. I believe we will use America World as our agency. We have actually signed the paper work and it is waiting for a recent picture of our whole family and the application fee. Greg posted his motorcycle on Craig's List and if it sells then Greg will have money to continue restoring his bronco and we will be able to begin the paperwork process too! Praying for a quick sale!!

I have come up with a new weekly organizer and am working on a post about it...soon!!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

First Day of School 2009/2010

We had a great first day of school! They kids did really well jumping back into the swing of things. We were going to go out for breakfast, but they said they would rather do their work first and have a late lunch out instead! So we picked mexican! Here are a few pictures from our first day back at it!

Esther 2nd grade
Nathan 4th grade
Abby 6th grade

Fall activities

This fall here is what is planned:


Abby is playing volleyball at Oak Level Baptist Academy with their middle school team
Nathan is playing flag football at the YMCA
Esther is dancing for in His Company dance
All three will be in the drama club for the production of Cheaper by the Dozen
All three are in Walkertown Home Educators ACE club co op: Abby will do volleyball and NC history, Nate will do "slight of hand" trick class and NC history and Esther will be in a science class studying the body and an American girl club.
Continue to be pupeteers for Korner's Folly
Begin Pioneer clubs at church
Begin Christmas play practice at church
Greg will be playing softball and I will be teaching the American Girl club and directing the Christmas play at church.
We plan on taking a field trip to the NC zoo and a big one to Williamsburg/Jamestown, VA

I am excited, but that list makes me tired just looking at it!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Go read this book!

This is one of the best books I have read on Christianity and our country. I keep going back to it again and again. I am getting ready to reread it with a highlighter in hand.

Beth did it again!

Some of the ladies at church and I are doing a summer Bible Study by Beth Moore based on the Book of Esther. I have been privileged to do several of Beth's video based studies and every single one the Lord used to teach me and this particular Bible study seems to relate so well with what is going on on my life.


Last night was on chapter 5 of Esther when she has Haman and the king come to a banquet and when the King asks her what she wants, she tells them she wants them to come back tomorrow for another banquet and most of the Bible lesson was on timing and waiting on the Lord. Beth ended with a verse that was very familiar to me, Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Honestly, until last night when Beth shed new light on it, I could not think of this verse without thinking of cheesy early 1990's posters of eagles flying over the Colorado mountains that every girl in Bible college seemed to have on their wall and the matching bookmark in their Bible. I think it was the mantra verse of those looking for a husband!

Waiting to me doesn't seem very strengthening..it seems exhausting! I hate to wait on anything...anything! Our adoption journey and anyone else who has went through it will tell you it is all about waiting. Waiting on paperwork, on lawyers, on birth moms to decide, on babies to be born, on rights to be terminated.....lots and lots of waiting. Let me tell ya, it has not been very strengthening to me I feel just the opposite, winded and ready to quit. I have shed many tears cause I am tired of waiting.

My problem is, I have been waiting on the baby not on the Lord. My aha moment last night was when she said, "When we wait upon the event, not on God we lose our strength..... never in our wait is God inactive"

The verse says that they that wait on the Lord will renew their strength. I have been waiting on this precious baby I feel like God is calling us to adopt and I have been so wrapped up in the goal of adoption that I have missed the blessing and lesson of waiting on God. The expectancy of anticipation and the blessing of God's moving has been lost on me with my tunnel vision for the goal.

There have been a few broken roads and many closed doors, but the call has not changed for us to adopt. God has called us to make a difference in the life of a child. To live out the pure religion spoken of in James 1 :27. I am excited to know that He who called us to it will see us through it. I am eagerly waiting on HIM to answer our prayers and bless our home.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Yeah What she said!

Isn't Jon Gosselin's fifteen minutes over yet? From author Kristen Billerbecks blog


I'm so tired of seeing this loser in his bad Ed Hardy tattoo clothing with his young "I'm so in love" bimbo hanging off his arm. Girls, if you're out there. Please, don't ever announce publicly that you're in love with a married man. It's beyond bad taste and you're going to get hurt in the end. It's the same advice I give to women standing by their man in a sex scandal. Let him take this one for the team. K?

As a mother of four, I am TICKED at Jon and his loser self. Do you have any idea what I have to do to go to a writers' conference for a weekend? How does this loser have time to fly all over the world and keep an apartment in NYC? Listen, he is divorcing his wife, not his kids.

She's taking the brunt for what a witch she is, but I'm telling you, this guy is without morals and she tried to make him act like a man. And he can't man-up unless it's to act like an oversexed teenager. He didn't man-up and get a job. Then, he whined that she made him do the show. Hey, here's an idea, go to WORK and she won't make you be on the show. Take control of your family and she won't have to.

I realize that marriage takes two, but talk about your underfunctioning husband. I hope his new girlfriend's daddy plans to support them, because I can't see Ed Hardy's clothing line lasting forever to be their meal ticket. That's another thing, why do I want to dress like a loser with no job, who abandons his children?

Not going to be blogging for awhile since I'm moving and finishing up a book, but I will be back for the Bachelorette Finale. Can't help myself there.



*** Oh and she is a fab christian writer if you want some real world chick lit without the smut!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Summer Fun

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: The Mullis kids summer
Create your own slideshow - Powered by Smilebox
Make a Smilebox slideshow

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Homeschool year number 6!!

I cannot believe this is my 6th year homeschooling.....really? 6 years?? Well, I homeschooled Abby from November on in Kindergarten. There was a lady in our church named Martha Sherrill who totally inspired me to homeschool after watching her relationship with her children and how much fun they had together. After a disastrous half a year for first grade I brought Abby back home for the rest of that year. Her and Nathan went to the school my Mother in Law taught at for K and 2nd and then I began homeschooling again after that year and have been since and Abby is going into 6th grade. Sooooo year # 6 baby!!!


We will start Aug 17th and here is a rundown of this year:

Math U See again ( love love love this curriculum!)
Abeka for language
Abeka for Spelling/writing
Abeka for phonics (Esther)
Rod and Staff Bible
History and Science will be Abeka as well with some fun Five in a Row units thrown in

We are going to have a Jamestown/Williamsburg/Pocahontas unit for about 6 weeks and end with a field trip there this fall

We will using the Prairie Primer and going through the Little House Books for Literature

I have a Fall and Spring nature study based on the North Carolina forests that will each end with a trip to Greg's parents cabin in November and May

We are going to do a Christmas Advent study on the Jotham's Journey book

For extra curricular activities:

All 3 will be in the Walkertown Home Educators Drama Club's production of Cheaper by the Dozen

We will continue to participate in our local co op. I know I am teaching an American girl club that Esther is going to be in and I know that Abby and Nathan will be taking a NC history class, but other than that I am not sure about the classes yet.

Dance for Esther, basketball for Abby and flag football for Nathan will be the sports of choice for each

All three will be puppeteers for Korners Folly this season

We will do at least one or two home school PE 6 week sessions at the YMCA.

I really do count myself as blessed to be able to stay home with and teach my children. They are such a blessing!








I love this story

The Starfish Story
(adapted from The Star Thrower by Loren Eiseley 1907-1977)

Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked fast to catch up.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.

He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"

The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man.

To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"

At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "It made a difference for that one."

The statistics are staggering.
Their plight is overwhelming.
Yet, you can make a difference in the life of a child.


Love this!!

www.homeschoolheaven.wordpress.com


For 2500 years the world has watched as two competing philosophies of education have vied for prominence. The Greek philosophy exalts knowledge above all else. Socrates said, “There is only one good, knowledge, and only one evil, ignorance.” The Greeks spent hours debating truth and arguing among themselves.

Within the Jewish culture however, there was a different priority. First was a search for relationships. The Jew wanted relationship on two planes- both the vertical and the horizontal. The first quest was to love God. The second quest was to love your fellow man. These two truths were inseparable. John says in 1 John 4:20 “If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.”

After these relationships were firmly established, THEN Jewish philosophy began to pursue wisdom and knowledge. 1 Cor. 8:1 says “…knowledge puffs up, but love builds ups.” Within these few words Paul clearly articulates the contrast between knowledge and relationships. Loving edifies while knowledge for the sake of knowledge only makes one prideful. And without doubt- the Greeks prided themselves on their knowledge, thinking of themselves as better than anyone else in the ancient world for this very reason. But Paul argues that knowledge apart from loving relationships is a waste of time- foolishness that only blinds us with crippling pride.

So which philosophy is the foundation for your homeschool? Are you following the Greek model in the headlong pursuit of academic achievement and knowledge above all else? Or are you following the Jewish model that stresses loving God and loving others as the safeguard which prevents the pursuit of knowledge from turning us into proud, arrogant fools?

Different curriculum publishers, homeschool speakers and book authors have all made a choice as well. It shouldn’t take you long to discern whether they have built upon a Greek or a Jewish philosophy of education. One seeks to exalt the human mind and it’s potential first and foremost- while the other seeks to ground us in a knowledge of God and a love for others to avoid the pride which inevitably results from the relentless pursuit of knowledge for the sake of knowledge.

Share these truths with your children today. Talk with them about your priorities in education. Ask them what we mean when we say someone is a “know it all.” Even a child knows that someone who has lots of knowledge but doesn’t care about the feelings of the people around him quickly becomes despised because of his pride and arrogance.

Before you crack open the math, history or science book today, think of at least one way for you and your children to express your love to God, and at least one way to express your love to another human being. Perhaps a simple prayer or worship song might express your love to God. And perhaps cleaning up a sibling’s room for them, or offering to help weed an elderly neighbor’s garden might be a practical expression of love for others. NOW you can dig deep into geography or grammar knowing that your priorities are rightly grounded today.

Go back and look over the verses above and talk with your children about them.

And please- don’t ever say that Steve is against knowledge and education. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am 100% in favor of academic excellence and achievement- as long as it’s in its rightful place after we have nurtured a relationship with the Lord and a love for others.


There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.

American Girl Club

I am teaching an American girl club at our co op this year. Here are some of the things I have planned



American Girl Club


American Girl Club is for girls ages 7-10. We will study a different American girl each week. We will play games from that era, create a craft from her time period and look at some of the events happening in each girl's life during that time.

$5 supply fee and 2 clean baby food jars with lids are needed. Limit 10 girls


Week 1

Kirsten~ 1854

Welcome to Kirstens World..... review book/lapbook page

Icebreaker : The apple dance ( place an apple between 2 girls foreheads and let them dance)

paint a dala horse

make butter


Supplies:

book

cream

salt

horses

paint

brushes

newspaper

apples

pioneer music

cd player

lapbook printable

baggie for each girls lapbook minibooks



Week 2:

Kaya ~ 1764

Welcome to Kaya’s World...review book/ lapbook page

Icebreaker: Moccasin game (hide a marble in one shoe and guess whose)

Do teepee art

Doll dress with rope and beads


Supplies:

Book

marble

paper bags

teepee printable

doll material, scissors, beads, rope

lapbook printable





Week 3:

Molly ~ 1944

Welcome to Molly’s World...review book/lapbook page

Icebreaker: play the sculpter game/listen to 1940’s music

Make a decopoge on a baby food jar in red, white and blue paper


Supplies

Book

cd player/cd

modgepodge

tissue paper

lapbook printable



Week 4:

Addy ~ 1864

Welcome to Addy’s world...review book/lapbook page * Still working on Addy**

icebreaker ~

craft ~


Supplies



Week 5

Kit ~ 1934

Welcome to Kit’s world...review book/lapbook page

icebreaker - throw the smile

dance to 1930’s music

notebook craft....decorate a reporters notebook with beads/sequins

Begin assembling lapbook


Supplies

cd/cd player

notebooks

glue

sequins

lapbook printables

folders for lapbooks



Week 6

Felicity ~ 1774

Welcome to Felicity’s world...review book/lapbook printable

icebreaker: curtsy and introductions

a fan craft and a sachet


Supplies:

lapbook printable

scrapbook paper

ribbon

sachet fabric front

sachet fabric back

potporri




Week 7

Samantha ~ 1904

Welcome to Samantha’s World....review book/ lapbook printable

icebreaker : Balance books on head

craft: calling card boxes and calling cards

Finish lapbook


Supplies

lapbook printable

books

music

boxes

scrapbook paper

calling card paper

markers

sequins

scissors