The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry

Tonight the family and I went to the movie store and picked up a movie for our family night.  When I enter a movie store I always pray that the Lord will show us a good Christian movie or a movie that will teach us a good life lesson.  Well, tonight the Lord once again has provided for us.  The hubby found a movie called "The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry" and asked if we should get it.  After reading the back I thought it would be a good movie. 

I was pleasantly surprised when within the first 20 minutes of the movie the characters are talking about God.  The back of the movie case did not even mention anything about God or even have the Dove symbol from what I saw (I may have missed it though).  The main characters are three boys around the age of 12 whom befriend an older man, Jonathan Sperry.  Jonathan Sperry takes these three boys under his wing and teaches them about Jesus and how spreading the Word of God is very important.  This movie was so remarkable that my six year old son was even crying.  There were a certain parts of the movie where my son was "wow that made me cry." Bless his heart!

Some of the lessons Mr. Sperry taught was humility, love, forgiveness, and friendship.  I know that I walked away learning some new things, and I am praying that my children did also.

Cash for Large Items

This past Spring I had order some homeschool curriculum for this coming year and I have been waiting for the items to arrive.  I was so excited yesterday when my daughter walked in with two boxes from the mailbox.  One item that I ordered was board game that teaches about budgets, and also how to count money.  While looking at the board game, I came across some more suggested ideas to use with your child I was a little taken back by one of their suggestions.  Under the transportation section it basically said that children need to learn that they need to make small payments for large purchases. 

Speaking from experience I do not want my children having that thinking mentality.  I want them to learn that you can save money to purchase a large item for cash with no payments.  After hearing Toni over at The Happy Housewife purchasing a 15 passenger van for cash or Crystal over Money Saving Mom paying 100 percent cash on her house it shows that it can be done. 

I will be teaching my kids that saving is smart and debt not so smart.  Of course I will be adding some Bible scriptures in there to show them what God thinks about debt. 

Household Update

It has been very busy here in my household, as I am sure it has for all of you.  The weather is starting to be very enjoyable here, but we have not had a chance to really step back and enjoy it.  I was planning on starting my flower bed but we just found out on Wednesday that we are eligible to move into another house on post.  I am so glad I never started the flower bed because I would be crying right now.  Since my hubby was promoted we are able to move into another house for his rank.  We are very excited about that and cannot wait to see what God will bless us with.  The downside is that we have to move ourselves.  I admit we are spoiled because we are use to movers coming into our home and packing us up and moving us.  Well, I do not want to get caught off guard so I officially started packing last night.  I am proud to say that my living room is packed, the master bath is packed, and most of our schoolroom.  Remember when it looked like this:

Well, it now looks like this but minus the curtain and the decor.  I took everything off the walls except that heavy flag sign.  The shelf is still there because we are still having school and that is where we keep our books.

I feel like I have done a lot in just the last 24 hours.  I plan on working on the children's room this afternoon, only because they keep asking me if I can pack their room.  I have to chuckle because at first my daughter was very upset about moving.  Even when hubby and I explained that we are just moving houses not moving out of state, she was still upset.  We see her point that she finally made friends at the local park and now she has to leave, but we explained that we can still stay in contact with her new friends.  I think now she is starting to like the idea, and of course my son is a typical boy and is just going with the flow.  We have not learned of our new move in date so we are basically waiting for the phone call letting us know.  I will be prepared!

We are busy with our extra-curricular activities.  Hubby is son's Tball coach, and hubby also plays softball for his unit.  So, Monday thru Thursday is Tball/softball.  Tuesday, and Friday is Tae Kwon Do.  On top of that I am a member of my husband's FRG (Family Readiness Group), which is for the families.  I am a volunteer for the phone tree, co-treasurer, and I also participate in the other groups available to our families.  We are very busy, but the best part is, we do it all together!

Next month, around mid-month, I have some HUGE news to share with all of you so please make sure to stop by.  I will be posting on The Forever Neighbor Facebook page a few days in advance of the post.  I do ask that you keep us in prayer.  We are very excited about this, and cannot wait to share!

One last thing tomorrow is our post-wide yard sale.  My family is so excited about this and while driving around post we can see so many people setting up for the event and I am getting anxious.  Ohhh and our Commissary is having a case lot sale this weekend.  I will be stopping by there also to pick up some items.  I will be taking photos of our purchases this weekend!

I pray you all have a bless weekend!

Lord Send the Rain

The weather is rainy here in Alaska, and it started last night, and is to continue until next week.  I am very excited about the rain because I have not smelled rain in about eight months, and also our grass is starting to turn green.  I know it sounds kind of silly but I know there are many people out there who love the smell of rain, and I realized it last night how much I missed it. 

With the 12+ hours of rain we have had I can see the grass is already turning green, trees are starting to spruce up, and everything is starting to look alive!!!  I am so excited about this new change in Alaska I had to share it with you.  Here are a couple of pictures that I took today to show how it looks now and then I plan on taking some more pictures next week to show you the change.  Plus, it is part of my son's science to show the change caused by the rain.  Sorry they are boring and I took them from my bedroom window so please look past the screen ;)

This tree has really started to turn a bright green.

I am hoping this tree will bloom by the end of next week or at least some type of liveliness.

What is the weather like where you live?  Are you enjoying the sunshine or the rain?

Homeschool Curriculum

I can't believe we are almost half way through the school year.  With this being my first year of homeschooling I have determined that this was the best decision to make, well that God has told me to do.  I have loved having my children home with me, and being able to be their teacher is a blessing.  I love it!  When I first started I was thinking about homeschooling until they started high school but I may be changing my mind about that!

One thing that I plan on doing is to finish the curriculum we already have.  For example, my daughter is only half way through her first book of math (there are two books).  So, instead of buying the next grade I will just finish up where we left off.  She will be in fourth grade next year but will be using third grade math.  Math is a subject that my daughter has to work a little harder in, while the language arts is where she excels.

It will really help my daughter because she will be able to finish the third grade math, and feel comfortable moving onto fourth grade.  I do not want my daughter to feel rushed; I want my daughter to know what she is learning before we move on to the next level.

This works for me!

For more of WFMW jump on over to We Are That Family.

   

Our Homeschool Story Part 3 (The Final Decision)...

If you have missed the first two installments of Our Homeschool Story please click here and here.

Okay, last time I left off I was realizing that I was truly broken and God was working within me to change me.  I started noticing that when I was by myself I had a lot of spiritual warfare going on around me and I really needed to focus on God.  I began to really read and take in what I was reading in my Bible and trying to apply it to my life.  God kept showing me what He wanted me to do, and it was up to me to obey.  One thing that kept rising up in me was the guilt of having my two blessings in school.  The two blessings that God had blown His breath into to save at birth, the two blessings that He sent to my husband and I to raise to follow Him.  I couldn't stand it anymore! 

Our Homeschool Story Part 2...

If you have not had a chance to read the first part of our homeschool story please click here. 
This part is dealing with me and more of my emotions.  So please bare with me ;)
Let's see where did I leave off at...ummmm....
Oh yes, I was thinking "am I really considering this?"  While walking back to my car I couldn't believe I was seriously thinking about homeschooling.  I knew I had two obstacles to overcome; my daughter and my hubby. 

Homeschool Update...

Remember last week when I posted about our homeschool room?  That room was so boring with nothing on the walls and just one window to look out of.  That was until my daughter and I decorated the room to look more like a schoolroom. 

Our Homeschool Story....

Today I am feeling led to talk about our homeschool story.  So that is what I am going to do.  I want to tell you how my husband and I decided to homeschool our two little blessings.  First, I need to explain that I am not degrading anyone who chooses not to homeschool, and these are our own personal opinions about homeschooling.  I really want to show how it was a big decision that my husband and I really had to pray about.  So on that note....

Our Homeschool Room

For some reason it has occurred to me that it is January and we are about half way through the school year.  WOW!  I can't believe how fast it has went.  Well, I guess with the move, and the Holidays the school year did somewhat slip by.  I started school in late July knowing that we were going to take quite a bit of time off during our move.  While in Maryland I never decorated or set up a room in our house for school due to us being packed up and moving within a month and a half.  My kitchen in Maryland had a lot of natural light and we would sit at our kitchen table, and work for few hours a day on school.  Well, that is not working for me here in Alaska.