Loving Out Loud

Yesterday started day 1 of "Loving out Loud" a challenge of taming your tongue offered by Alisa Keeton of Revelation Wellness and Fitness. What a great way to start preparing for the birth of Christ this advent by choosing wisely what words to use to those around us. I have often needed to "tame" my tongue. I have Proverbs 31:26 posted on my wall in my kitchen which reminds me of the kind of mom, teacher, friend and person I want to be. "She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue!" Wisdom! Kindness! Teaching! What this means to me is that I model the "taming" of my tongue. For my family first since they are mostly the recipients of my untamed tongue. When i speak in kindness, it is the kindness that get's taught to my children by example rather than words. The Act of Random Kindness. And when my tongue needs taming ( and often I look at those words and see how much I have failed to speak kindly )~ I can soften, forgive myself and ask for forgiveness from the one who was cut by my unkind words. Modeling the failure and being the recipient of Grace are great teachers to my soul. My children extend grace and teach me how to be more loving, more patient, more present and more authentic! So even when I fail, I can be assured that God's Grace is at work in the hearts and minds of all around me. Including myself.

A valuable tool we use in our home is an apology. But not just the random "I'm sorry" that rarely has meaning attached to the angry giver. But the I'm sorry, will you forgive me?! apology!! Those last 4 words are even more important that the first 2. It heals both the one wronged and the one doing the wrong. And often it is reciprocated with the one being wronged, seeing where they may have had a part in the disagreement and saying they are sorry too! And will you forgive me?!

I can be assured that I will be tested often in the taming of my tongue. And maybe even more so now that I am putting it out there on this blog. Now i've got some accountability to hold onto. But i will choose to "Love out Loud" anyway and not only keep my tongue from harsh words, but to encourage! To offer Thanks and Praise to those around me. To see the good that is present in others and in myself. How often do I see my failures, and rarely see my goodness. The constant critic within my mind. So I let go of the "Should's" and rest in Grace. Because in truth, "It's all Grace" anyway! "My Grace is sufficient" says the Lord. His Grace! not my own! Thank goodness i have access to His power, His grace and His forgiveness. And Praises that it is greater than even my own imagination!!

So along with that taming, comes a journal of Thanks. Words of thanks spoken out loud and written down. Reminders of the goodness and Grace that is ever-present. Day 2 comes with gratitude journals. A renewal of my own, and the beginning of my children's. Something to do together. Inspired by Ann Voskamp and her blog Holy Experience. If you get a chance, take a look. Your heart will be lifted!

Holy yoga

Way back when in 1993, I became a certified Kripalu yoga teacher. I loved yoga!! I taught classes through all 3 of my pregnancies and saw the healing effects of both body, mind and spirit in my body and my students. But what didn't Jive for me was the Eastern spirituality that surrounded it. I never felt connected to the Eastern religions of Buddhism or Hinduism. My calling and heart kept pulling back to Christ! First through the books of Thomas Keating on Centering Prayer. Then through my Catholic heritage and now through Holy Yoga!! I am sooo excited that the Holy Spirit has found a way to link my Love for Christ with my love for yoga. It encourages and invites me to use yoga as a way to "yoke" myself with the the Lord. Using yoga poses as a tool for deepening my faith and connection and giving it all to Christ.

I stopped teaching in 2006 because of the conflict that I felt between my faith and my yoga practice. And now I have been led to teach once again. This time with Holy Yoga. If at anytime i can put my finger on hearing God speak to me, this is the time. He has made it effortless to begin my training in Holy Yoga. God has opened the door for me financially and timewise and has put loving encouraging people in my path. I am ever so grateful for Brooke Boon who is the founder of Holy Yoga! Thank you Brooke for following your calling and purpose to glorify the Lord through sharing yoga and the Holy Yoga program with others!

Take a peek at this article to hear more about Brooke's journey!

www.faithandfitness.net/node/357

and you can go here to learn more about the Holy yoga program and where you can find teachers and classes. Holyyoga.net

May the Lord bless you and keep you!

Chris

Simply Homeschooling

One of the things I Love about homeschooling is the ability to travel and allow the kids to experience the world around them in fun ways. Without the time constraints of the School calender, we can learn at anytime, anywhere...and keep our learning flowing with our everyday living.

This week we took a trip to Pensacola Florida to visit my Grandmother and help celebrate her 90th birthday. Our homeschooling consisted of beach combing and identifying shells, and the wild life of the coast. With visits to the beach, they have become resident shell masters. They can identify the state shells of North Carolina and Florida and know which ones are rare, when is the the best time to search for them and have drawn and painted them in pencil and watercolor.

They have taken photos of the local bird life, trekked through a wildlife preserve and truly enjoy the diversity of the natural world.

They have been able to learn from their Great-Grandmother about her life. Building a family connection between 4 generations. They have gotten a lesson from her in current events of all things just by being able to sit and talk with her, as the news in Egypt unfolds. Schooling for us is a continuous flow of our life. Learning happens all the time, not just during "lessons."

Click over here at aHolyexperience.com for some great inspiration on simply homeschooling.

Ann explains beautifully the 4 steps to keeping it simple and alive. And if you don't home school, you can still get inspiration on keeping life fun and alive with your kids.

From Ann Voskamp:

4 Cornerstones of Simple Homeschooling:

1. A Continuum of Constant Learning….

Live your life. Invite children to join in! Education is a continuum of everyday life.

Read together. Pray together. Sing together. Work, bake, garden, chore, clean, sew, fix, build together. No artificial demarcation lines between schooling and living. Just live a one-piece life. Just live authentically and holistically.

2. Contagious Creativity

Explore! Be awed by His World! Restore Wonder! Be a creative, thinking, exuberant person who spills with the joy of learning.

I once read and it deeply struck me:

“What kinds of articles are most likely to be emailed by users of the New York Times website? Researchers did a six-month study of the most-emailed list and discovered that, more than utility or surprisingness or feel-good factors (which were all helpful for an article’s prospects), it was a sense of awe that made a given article most likely to be shared. ”

When we are awed by something — we can’t help but pass it on. It’s our natural tendency. And if we are in awe of God — we become natural, unstoppable, top-notch teachers. A zest for learning and life and our Maker will be creative and contagious–the children will catch it! Simply be awed!

3. Curiousity

Read, read, read. Two hours a day, more. Fill the house with library books. Play classical music. Post the art of the masters about the house. Go for walks in the woods. Learn a new language, a new culture, a new poem. Write! Everyday set out to discover again, and again, and again. Simply live curiously. The whole earth is full of His glory! Go seek His face…

4. Consistency

Consistently pray. Consistently read. Consistently keep the routine. Consistently live an everyday liturgy.Consistently celebrate each moment!

Children thrive in routine. So do households. Have hardstops: times that you fully stop to pray, to read, to write. Regardless of what isn’t done, what isn’t finished. Make a full stop, do the needful thing, then return to meals, laundry, household management. Simply consistently be consistent.

And that’s all. Simply homeschooling… living with One at the Center.

forced to slow down

January 24, 2011

I start this post looking back on our fall and winter and cannot believe the amount of colds and virus' that have plagued us. From coughs to stuffy noses, to fever and a hospital stay for me. Recovery for me at home only to start the round again with 3 boys, 3 coughs and 3 fevers. And it seems to be spreading wildly through all our friends and homeschool coop.

My carefully thought out and planned homeschool lessons have gone awry, and it seems that the planning needs to be done week by week instead of quarter or semester. This time of illness and recovery and illness circle has forced me to not only slow down, but stop. Assess the immediate needs of my family and myself and give thanks that we are dealing only with inconvienences rather than serious medical issues. I wonder how many mothers would trade my circumstances to be home with their children rather then bedside in a hospital. And I offer up gratitude to this loving God that has given me the privledge to tend to my little ones, rather than rushing off to work. For the opportunity to hug, make soup, bring water, rub backs and stroke foreheads. To slow down and let go of the plans, and surrender to the chaos of the house and laundry and dishes piled in the sink.

And I silently ask, what door is this opening for me? I have asked and prayed for more quiet time. Time for centering prayer, knitting, reading, going with the flow rather than trying to control the flow. And I see that in letting go of the "shoulds", I have have gently invited the presence and action of the Holy Spirit to take the lead, today. Yet it is a constant letting go!! A constant reminder that "Not my will, but Thine be done." So i let go of the reins, and take them back again, and let go again and take them back again and learn this circle dance as best i can day by day. Practicing the steps to being more present, more loving and forgiving of my failures. Thankful that God's mercies are new each morning and at any time, i can rejoice in the Grace that is offered me. And offer it to those I love! These little ones that need some "loves" from their mama, that take comfort in my presence even when the teenager shrugs off the hair strokes; knowing that I am here. To soothe, to be here when needed and just hold the space for their healing to take place in comfort and safety.

And my thoughts turn to the words of Christ from the book of Matthew, " I am with you always!" I feel a peace, a softening, a hug from the Holy Spirit. In Gratitude I say "Thank you" Lord! For this time of healing, of reassessment, of slowing down and letting go of the nonessentials. For Friends who send cards, flowers and bring meals. Who take pleasure in serving our need and feed my spiritual body as well by being the hands and heart of Christ. I feel deeply loved!! Lovingly cared for and embraced whole.

Clean and Green

Today is a beautiful spring day and me and my boys are heading into downtown Charlotte for the annual Clean and Green Festival and CPCC. This my my Hubby's gig and he has been working hard to plan, set up and do all the little things to help it be a success.
I am looking forward to the organic gardening classes and handouts that will be there along with being able to buy some heirloom veggies, flowers and herbs to add to the gardens. Such great resources and kind people who grow their own food, homestead or make a local product to learn from!!
There are over 100 vendors promoting green products and Local Food awareness there. I am so thrilled that this has come to charlotte and to see so many local farm and homesteads join in to let us know where they are and what they are growing and selling. Honey, plants, beef, chicken, homebaked goods. It's like a local organic farmers market and living green expo all wrapped in one!!
If your in charlotte, some look for me in the gardening section or by the stage listening to my hubby play old time music at 10:00 am!!

Spring is here!!

It's spring here on the farm and the beauty of the new green grass, Violets, Forsythia and Red buds is breath taking and uplifting. It's hard to concentrate on school when the weather beckons us to come play outside and explore. So- we have taken our books outside to read. I read to the them from our Read-Alouds and the little one gets to play on the play set while the older ones get to listen.
What's on our reading list? We are enjoying Jacks' Insects for our living nature book right now! Its an old book Charlotte Mason used in her schools in the early 1900's that has been brought back into print! Wonderful! For bible study we read from our Faith and Life book and have been reading The Restless Flam by Louis Wohl. A great novel about St. Augustine that all of us are enjoying. Who knew he was such a rascal?!!! For american history I read out of several books. Two are This Country of Ours, by Marshall- and From Sea to Shining Sea. Lastly is Swallows and Amazons for our literature. The boys narrate back outside and we have snacks on blankets and walk in the sunchine for our breaks. Then it's back inside for math and Main Lesson Book work with pictures, wirtten narrations and looking up what ever treasures we have found on our walks.
Today we have daddy home and have farm work to do. Time to get the Garden ready for planting. Get the Chicken house cleaned out and moving all that gold onto the garden along with compost from the compost pile. Lots of physical activity, but what a great day to be outside and enjoy being a family with some preparation for our 3 sisters garden and family garden. We have the privlege of having dear freinds join us in our garden this year. We look forward to sharing the bounty and the handwork with our friends The Stout's. I am looking forward to time in the garden and time with Carla knitting on the front porch and watching the littles play!


All Good Wishes!!

Snowy days

This week has been a week full of snow and walks in the woods and cancelled work for daddy and therefore cancelled homeschool lessons at home. Instead we have been enjoying the beauty of the woods filled with fresh fallen snow. Hiking through the farm with each other and pointing out the treasures of a water fall moving through the ice, the places the creek has frozen and where it has not. Sledding down the big hill behind the barn and landing in the creek a few times, then coming in for Hot chocolate. Watching the birds at the bird feeder and seeing all the beautiful colors we have not noticed when the earth is green and brown instead of the pure white back ground of the snow!! We have filled our feeders and fed our chickens, played with the dogs, baked homemade cinnamin rolls and homemade chicken soup, and had a chance to connect leisurly in front of the fire!! Today it is raining and the snow is melting. It's gray outside and cold and not fun to be out in. 3 of us are sick with colds, but we are thankful for the quiet time of winter and the nice cozy fire and good books we can cuddle up with until the sun comes out tomorrow!!!

Apple Fritters and Beethovan

Fall has arrived!!! And with the fall comes apples. Big, yummy, juicy apples. Our favorites this year are Jona Gold. They are a great eating apple and baking apple. For snacks they slice up nice and you can put p-nut butter on them too!

Today we decided to use some of our fall harvest to make Apple fritters. What a great way to savor the flavors and smells of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, apples and eat a yummy harvest treat.
Today's cooking was part of Ben's 3rd grade cooking main lessons. He reads the recipe and makes it with my supervision, then draws a picture of what was cooked, copies the recipe and then adds it to his own cookbook. By the end of this year he will have his own illustrated cookbook of recipe's and foods he has created. I am lucky! My boys love to cook. They are learning to chop, stir, measure, add fractions, and clean-up as they go and take care of their space after too. Practical skills!

As we made apple fritters, I turned on Beethoven so we can continue our composer study. we listened to the 6Th symphony as we stirred, chopped, peeled and cooked, and then enjoyed eating our yummy treat. Learning happens when an emotional connection is made. I know the connection was made for me today. The smells of fall, the beauty of the earth's bounty, the music in the background. This is what memories are made of, and today was a great memory maker for me. I hope the boys enjoyed it as much as I did!

Water color Paintings

I love the Freedom in our Homeschool Journey that our boys can paint. Water color seems to be the medium that eli loves the best and Flowers from around our farm is the subject he chooses. It is so wonderful to hear him exclaim when he sees a beautiful flower " Mom, I HAVE to paint that!" Many mornings before breakfast he is sketching or painting. When he wants to take a break from studies, he chooses to paint, draw or read. The path of homeschooling has given him the time to follow this passion of his, and it is a wonderful joy to watch his talents and enthusiasm unfold. This year he entered one of his paintings into the Rowan county fair, and took second place.

My Benjamin loves flowers too! But he likes to arrange them. He chose to enter 2 flower arrangements in the fair. His mixed flower arrangement came in 1st and his rose arrangement took 2nd. How cool is it that Boys can be supported in there passion of appreciating flowers!!! I am so glad it has remained intact and can be expressed in their beautiful spirits!

Plans for our school year

Well, Our homeschool start date for this fall is right around the corner. We wait until the beginning of September to enjoy the summer to it's fullest and get our fall garden going. This year is exciting with lots of fun things planned for the boys.

Eli will be doing 6th grade this year, Ben will be in 3rd grade and Gabe is.....4 and full of energy. This years main lesson blocks for Eli are, men of ancient Greece, ancient Rome, Geometry, Physics, Minerology, Astronomy, and literature analysis.

We have started a new Co-op and are excited to be a part of HeartStones. Each wednesday we get to share in fellowship and learning as our children grow in the Lord together and learn in fun and creative ways inspired by the wisdom of Charlotte Mason.

Ben's lesson blocks are OldTestament stories, shelters, time, money and measurement, native american legends and stories, Farming and Fiber arts. We will be doing a lot of building and practical work in the garden and creating shelters, projects and hand on projects for this 3rd year.

For our bible study this year we will be using our Block on Old testament stories as a family throughout the year. We will create main lesson books to carry our study in scripture, and hebrew culture which give us our roots in Christianity.

Art, written narration, scripture and poetry will be included. Stay tuned for pictures. Literature and living books comprise a lot of our reading. Ben has just started the Hobbitt by J.R.R Tolkein and Eli is finishing his summer reading of Homer's odyssey and Hittite Warrior. He has just begun the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark twain for his Literature Analysis class in HeartStones.

I will be reading aloud several living books based on american history. Some for this year are Poor Richard, Abigail Adams, Johnny Tremain, George Washington's world, and Little house on the prarie books for our Third grade. We look forward to lots of reading ouside under the pecan trees to keep little Gabe busy and having fun and I am excited to have wednedsays with him in HeartStones where we can have time to read and play together.

Piano Lessons continue to inspire the boys to create their own music and have started a band with their best friends Luke and Jack. So far 2 videos have been made and tracks have been laid for some new tunes!! We attribute this creative endeavor to their lessons inSimply Music. It is by far the Best Program for learning music out there!!

Here's to a wonderful year!

Fall Garden Time

August is on it's way out and it's time to put in our fall garden. This year we are planting Kale, Red Russian Kale, Mixed Greens, Broccoli, Beets and onions to winter over. We love fresh greens from the garden and sautee them in onions, coconut oil and a sprinkle of mama garlic and sesame seeds. Yum!! Stay tuned for more recipes from our apples and pecans.

Grace is a free gift

I am completely and utterly bursting with gratitude!! Today was one of those days when everything flows and the abundance of God's grace and blessings is felt so deeply, that i am in utter awe of what a good God i have and what a great life i have been blessed with.

We started with amazing day with my 3 beautiful boys on the farm. We homeschool and the privilege of being home and caring for them and learning along side them is such a ride!! After i went for a morning run and was taken by the clouds and the surreal beauty of this spring day, we did our chores and then headed outside. We brought our school books and grabbed snacks and cushions and seated ourselves under the pecan trees. We spent time having bible study, then listening to poetry, reading about the apple tree for botany and the strawberry. Then read some Wizard of Earth Sea by Ursula LeGuin. The boys completed their cursive and printing work and their copy work and poetry memorization for the day all so smoothly. Then after lunch, we all took a nap. Got up and went strawberry picking.. Oh the joy of picking your own berries in may!! The boys were beside themselves with delight. Eating warm strawberries fresh from the vine is a memory like no other. They helped each other fill their baskets and talked about how the strawberry plant is a combination of the apple tree and the Rose bush.Nice to see they remembered something about our botany lesson from this morning. Eli is wanting to paint the strawberry plant and add it to his main lesson book. We grinned and ate berries and laughed and enjoyed being together. Then we packed up and went to panera for dinner. They got their favorites and as we sat down we offered up our thanks to the Lord who has blessed our day and our lives with each other and the amazing gifts we have been given.

How often do we really stop and think about the gifts here everyday for us. Just the simple gift of being home with the boys to see their joy and laughter in their exploration of their learning is amazing in itself. But to add to the joy and the bounty of the earth and the beauty of the sky and the day is just soul filling. It's hard not to want another and just stay present in this bliss!!
These are the days that remind me of why i homeschool, and why i have chosen the role of being a stay at home mom. Why i make bread from scratch, clean, garden, read and learn alongside my family.
This is what dreams are made of!! My Dreams, and God is soo Good!!

Waken in me a Gratitude for My Life

Waken in me a Gratitude for My Life

Oh God, complete the work you have begun in me,

Release through me

a flow of mercy and gentleness that will bring

water where there is desert,

healing where there is hurt,

peace where there is violence,

beauty where there is ugliness,

justice where there is brokenness,

beginnings where there are dead-ends.

Waken in me

gratitude for my life,

love for every living thing,

joy in what is holy,

praise for you.

Renew my faith that your are God

beyond my grasp....but within my reach;

past my knowing....but within my searching.

O Keeper of Promises,

composer of grace

grant me

glee in my blood,

prayer in my heart,

trust at my core,

songs for my journey,

and a sense of your kingdom.

adapted from guerillas of grace by Ted Loder

I was so very fortunate to recieve this poem during my stay at the Well of Mercy. A big thank you to Sister Donna and Sister Bridget for sharing this with me.

I hope it fills your heart with joy and hope! All Good Wishes!