- I have recently become addicted to Sudoku…I know, I’m a little behind the times, but I picked up a few Sudoku puzzle books in the dollar section at Target and I’ve been hooked ever since. Josh makes fun of me! :) LOL! I don’t mind. :)

-A sure sign that Joshua is officially entering “Big-Boyhood”…I have to use adult hangers for his shirts now. I don’t know why, but it made me really sad the first time I realized it!

-I had a blast playing two rounds of miniature golf with my hubby today…he won the first round and we tied the second. I think we’d enjoy taking up golf together…in our spare time…HAHAHAHA!! Maybe in 18 years!?

-I’m selling my Sonlight Core K curriculum on ebay right now and I’m praying I’ll receive enough from the sale to purchase next year’s Classical Curriculum! (about $370…I paid almost $800 for last year’s curriculum through Sonlight!)

-I made Jesse cry today when I refused to let him drink out of my water bottle…seven years of marriage and three kids and it still grosses me out to share drinks with people…especially sweaty little boys! …don’t worry, I gave him his own.

-Josh was laughing at me, once again, when he realized what I was working on in bed the other night. I was making our packing list for our family vacation: food, linens, clothing, games, movies, beach equipment, etc…I get VERY specific and even estimate what our grocery budget and gas costs will be for the trip…SO, why was he laughing, you ask??? Our trip is still FIVE weeks away!! Can you really ever be TOO prepared?? I mean, come on! If we get there and something is missing, who will that fall back on…ME, of course…so I’m starting early! :) Plus, I enjoy being the “Go-To” girl. If someone forgot something, most of the family knows that I probably have it! …which reminds me, I need to add children’s tylenol, motrin, and benadryl to that list! LOL! :)

Okay, that’s all I’ve got for tonight. Another good Saturday under my belt. I didn’t do much cleaning, but we were outside for most of the day, so it has stayed relatively tidy….oops, I guess I should put the clean sheets back on my bed!

Goodnight all!
~audrey

Do you ever find you’ve lost your passion for something that you once loved? Not because you don’t love it anymore, but because the busyness of life has pushed it to the bottom of the priority list and suddenly you’ve become less like a unique individual and more like the energizer bunny, trying to cross everything off the “to-do” list of life? That is how I’ve felt lately, in more ways than one.
The biggest issue lately has been whether or not we were going to homeschool again in the fall, or send the boys to a local Christian school. I was actually physically sick from the stress of making such a big decision. I believe that we’re 99% sure we’re going to continue homeschooling and I’m really excited about that decision. It is the one I was leaning toward the most.
This morning as the family was slowly waking up, I grabbed a cup of coffee, one of my favorite books, and one of the cushions from my patio furniture and headed to the back patio for some quiet time. The book is “Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit”, by Teri Maxwell. This book was such a driving force in our first semester of last year. She is a homeschooling mother of eight and has been homeschooling since 1985. She loves the Lord and has incredible wisdom to give through her experiences with the Lord, a large family, and homeschooling for so many years. All it took was one single chapter to make me want to jump up from my chair and hit the ground running. I don’t know if you ever feel like this, but sometimes I lose sight of my ultimate goal in marriage and parenting. Sometimes, unfortunately, I take my eyes off of the Lord and revert them back to myself and suddenly I’m angry with everyone in my house and all I want is some ME TIME! In actuality, all I really want it to be the very best wife and mother that I can possibly be. I want to shelter, love, educate, and protect my children. I want to prepare them to be godly heads of household when they have a family of their own one day. I want to respect my husband and always make the wisest decisions for our family when the responsibility rests in my hands. I want my husband and children to think of me as meek and quiet. By definition, meek means soft, gentle, not easily provoked or irritated. The definition of quiet is peaceable, not turbulent, not giving offense, mild, meek, and contented. What a standard to live up to. I have to physically tell myself, out loud, each morning, “I have the mind of Christ!” Achieving a meek and quiet spirit is going to take as much work for me as would training for a marathon! I’m not naturally inclined to be meek and quiet, just like I’m not naturally inclined to run every single day in increasing distances with increasing speeds. Everything in life that’s worth having, is worth working for! I just needed a reminder.
I hope this encouraged you, regardless of what you’ve been struggling with.
Have a great weekend!
~audrey
P.S. My weekend challenge to you is to grab a laundry basket and head out to your car. Clean out all trash, clothes, shoes, books, toys…anything that does not belong in your car! Then, when you get back in the house, set the timer for 15 minutes and unload that laundry basket so everything gets back where it belongs (if you’re anything like me, most of it will end up in the trash!). Good luck!

Excuse my laziness. Summer is here and I’m feeling it already. My days of sleeping in are long gone, but I still enjoy a lazy, rainy day in my pj’s with the boys, and lately, we’ve been spending about three hours a day by the pool. It is divine. We pack a lunch, go the pool from about 10-1, and by the time we get home, the boys are completely worn out, Owen goes down for a nice long nap, and I get to chill out with a book or a chick flick for a little while. Now that you know what my schedule has been like lately, it will come as no surprise to you that I’ve done almost NO housework! I’m here every single day and I still keep my house “tidy”, but it is SO dirty right now!
So, the purpose of this post is to tell you what I’m going to do…as soon as I get up from the computer! I’m going to set my kitchen timer for 30 minutes and in that time, I’m going to vacuum the whole house, dust, clean both bathrooms, and sweep the kitchen floor. I’m not kidding. I can do it. And when I finish, I’ll feel SO much better! I challenge you to do the same. Make a short to-do list and set that timer for thirty minutes. You’ll be amazed at all that you can accomplish in such a short period of time when you have specific goals in mind! Good luck!

~audrey