Spring Fever!

Last week we had record breaking temperatures!  It hit 80 degrees two days in a row.  In March!  Do you understand how monumental that is for us way up here in the willy-wacks.  The only problem is that once a girl that loves summer gets a taste of it, that is all she wants.  But now we are back to real life and 40 degrees.  Bummer. 

Now to a totally unrelated subject....

I made Hershey's syrup last night.  It actually turned out yummy.  Sugar, water, cocoa, vanilla and salt.  Easy.  Here's the link....  YUM!  I made one batch and it smelled burned.  Since I was making it for company, I dumped it out and made a second batch (half a batch this time) and it smelled the same way.  So, I am guessing that's just the way it is.  It doesn't taste burned.  Tastes yummy.  I really do enjoy cooking.  Not everything turns out gourmet, but most things are pretty edible. 

Mayo has been my other thing that I've made recently that is mmmm!  Here's the link to that one:  Ahh-Mayo-zing! 

Now back to motivating my scholars who wish summer was here already.....any one have any good advice about that?!

Not So Much Alone

Being a wife of an Army Reservist, a girl can feel alone on the adventure called The Army.  I know that the grass is always greener on the other side, but I see those living on post, or at least near post, as having the advantage of community.  Hubby has been in the Army for 26 years now.  He joined when he was 17, his junior year of high school.  He describes coming back to playing soccer after a summer in Basic at Fort Benning, as a breeze.  I remember a quote that went something like, "Running in sneakers and shorts easier than with boots and a ruck sack".  Ya think?  So when people ask me, "When is he getting out?" and I reply with, "Probably not soon," they look at me like I have three eyes.  Most do not understand the Army and the life that goes with it.  He is highly trained, ready and willing to do the job if needed.  It's not a job like most think of a job, a pay check, it's much more than that.  It's life.


I said that we were in Fort Belvoir on the last post, right?

Well, two days before we left Belvoir, we headed to one of the many playgrounds on post.  We had been there for a little while and a mom and two daughters came to play.  The kids all started playing together and the mom came and chatted with me.  Turns out her hubby is a Chaplin (a good, Bible believing one too!), she home schools and enjoys being an Army wife!  *Contented sigh*  Hubby and I were chatting about how good God is to us, little meetings like that are not coincidence, but carefully ordained by God Himself.  It was amazing to be able to chat with a kindred spirit about all things Army, the good and the frustrating, knowing that not only do we have this in common, but a faith, a trust in the Creator which knits hearts together in a way nothing else can.

The other thing about this meeting that was equally as amazing was that Ariel was able to chat with a girl her own age whose daddy wears that same uniform.  That evening she mentioned that it was nice to meet another kid with a soldier daddy and that she was more excited to head to the War College.  I think she decided that it was okay for her to move and see new things since this little girl did, she could do it to!  That was so wonderful for Hubby and I to hear. 

We did many amazing things when we were down there, including Ariel getting her first Military ID, going to Mount Vernon and the Smithsonians, but making new friends was such a treasured gift making me feel not so much alone.

Road Trip!

tWe're here!!!  Fort Belvoir, Virginia.  A few weeks ago, Hubby wanted to know if I wanted to hit the road for a road trip and I was like, "You had to ask?!".  It seemed like it took forever, we left "down home" in a snow storm Thursday and arrived last night at about 7.  Thursday morning we hit a snow storm, putting our state into a state of emergency.  How funny is that?  A state known for snow, panicking when snow comes.  They did get 12" of snow in the southern part of the state.  Us northern staters don't blink with 12".

Anyway...back to the road trip.  The girls are great riders.  They don't complain much.  There were a few, "When are we supposed to get there"'s, and since the GPS was set, I could tell her.  Wow, technology has sure helped parents on road trips.  You should see my techno kids in the back seat.  Belle is playing Mario Karts on her DS while watching a movie, listening through headphones, and Ariel has her iPod out, DJing for us and watching the movie.  Belle kept saying, "Turn down the music, I can't hear the movie!"  To which Ariel replies, "Turn up your movie, I can't hear the music!".  Other than that, things were pretty peaceful.  The one thing I always struggle with in the car is trash.  Poor Belle had a nose that was running like a faucet and her tissues were everywhere!  Recently I saw on Pinterest a suggestion of using a cereal Rubbermaid container with a flip top lid for trash, lined with a grocery bag.  Wow!  Ingenious!  But did I remember to snag one of those babies before the trip....nope.

We stopped at the Army War College yesterday, it was right on the way.  Amazing!  We drove around to see the housing and the classrooms.  It looks like the classrooms are pretty much walking distance from most of the housing.  How cool is that?!?!  Have a I mentioned how excited I am for this adventure?  We hit the PX, not huge amount of selection, but they have a huge range of items.  You can buy a flat screen TV, sneakers, underwear, cold medicine and a bike, all at this store if you wanted.  Oh, and any uniform you wanted too, this is a PX, you know.

Today is going to be a lazy day for us girls.  My beauties are still sleeping, thankfully!  I'm almost done blogging for the day and I think I'll start a new book, The Help.  I tried to start is last night, but I fell asleep.  The rest of the week will hopefully entail trips into DC to the museums and all the fun that goes with big city living. 

Being A Wife

A few of us girls at church started this book recently, along with some homeschool friends.  I had heard of the book before, but had never read it myself.  I thought it would be a great challenge to work on this aspect of my life.  So often it's the kids that I'm concentrating on, but if I have no marriage, I have no family.

I'm one of those lucky girls that married a man who loves me, cherishes me and actually wants to be with me.  Despite all my "warts", he loves me anyway.  I'd rather be with him than any one else.  This morning he was late for work because he plowed out the driveway and shoveled off the walkway so that the kids and I would be able to get to the Jeep with out getting snow in our shoes.

One of the things that the book talked about and was discussed last night was the idea of always trying to court him, always trying to act the way I did when I was trying to snag him.  I did act differently then.  Make-up and perfume were musts.  My clothes were clean and I always showered and shaved.  I'd be cute and smile-y, always flirting.  Now, fast forward 14 1/2 years, I struggle to make my hair into much more than a pony tail.  I shower every day for the shear fact that I can't stand myself.  Shaving....I bought replacement blades for my razor for the first time in a year...please don't take that as I haven't shaved in a year, it's just that it happens so infrequently that I don't change blades much.  Flirting is something I haven't given much thought to because I always thought that we had a deeper relationship and it wasn't really necessary.  I'm a natural smile-er, so I don't have to give it much thought, but I do know that I don't always greet him with one when the day has been rough.  How hard is it to smile, flirt and smell good?  No hard at all.  I still am totally in love with this guy!  I think it's more about being conscious about doing it.

Okay, he's in the driveway.  Pep talk to self.  Be nice, be nice.  Smile.  Did I put deodorant on?  Hmmm...wonder where that lip gloss is he put in my Christmas stocking?  A brush...I know it was here a minute ago.

How hard is that?  Not hard at all.  I think the hard part is the "want to".  So often I get on my high horse and think of all the stuff I did around the house and with the kids that I think I get more points for doing the most, when all he did was actually get out of the house and go hang with the guys for the day.  I know he had a lunch meeting with the Sheriff and coffee with the local Chief of police.  I happened to drop by the barracks and there he was, chatting in his office with his friend and classmate from the State Police Academy.  The list of my accomplishments at home is long....school with the kids, 5 loads of laundry folded and put away, dishes done (no dishwasher here), all the stuff from last night cleaned up from the living room, beds made, kids are clean, dinner is made and put on the table, only to have to sit and cold while he is sitting in the driveway on the phone.  Of course from his perspective, I've got to hang out with his beautiful children all day and spiffy up the house, while he has had meeting upon meeting with every one from the Sheriff to the local PD to the Sergeant who had issues in his section to trying make phone calls to reschedule training for the specialty team that he commands to accommodate the entire team so he doesn't have to do it when he walks through the door, he wants to play with the kids, not work.

Perspective is a good thing. 

I'm thankful for my marriage.  I'm thankful for my husband.  I love being married and I love being married to him.  I want the same for him.  I want him to not only love me because he is obligated to, due to the vows we took, but I want him to love me because I'm lovely, because it's fun to love me.  I want him to be glad to come home and be anxious to come home because I'm there.

No too much to ask, right?  :)

Perpetual State of "Duh".

I used to have it all together.  At least I think I did.  I was educated.  I was a grown up, well, almost.  I could carry on a conversation with words that had lots of syllables.  I had an office job where I had to wear clothes that needed to be ironed everyday.  I miss that sometimes.

Like this morning.  My awesome hairdresser friend came over to hide all my gray hairs for me and I my thoughts were all jumbled and it came out as incoherent speech.  She laughed, she has twins...need I say more?  At times I feel like I'm constantly slapping my forehead in the "Duh" motion (I know you know what I'm talking about) and I feel like an idiot.  And it frustrates me...only for a moment.

Have I told you lately how lucky I am?  I am a lucky girl.  My uniform of the day is jeans and a t-shirt.  No one makes fun of me if I don't shower.  Everyone appreciates my limited vocabulary.  No one notices that I can't think an idea to it's completion because they are the interrupters.  I've decided that I'm okay with that, in fact, I love it.  I love being home with my kids.  I love living on the brink of insanity with the homeschooling adventure.  I love being able to be myself and being accepted as normal...it may be just because they have no idea what normal is....no, I won't go there... 

I was snuggling Belle in church a couple Sundays ago.  She was right in my armpit.  I whispered, "Does my armpit stink?"  With a straight face, she whispers back, "No, but your breath does."  Me: "I brushed my teeth this morning."  Belle:  "I think you are lying." 

How can you not love your life after a conversation like that? 

Father God, You are so gracious to me to allow me to have a family like the one You gave to me.  I'm in awe at your creation.  Please forgive me for taking it so for granted lately, I'm so blessed and so thankful.

Changes for us!

You know the feeling that you have when you know something is about to change, but you can't quite put your finger on it?  I've had that feeling for about a year and a half now.  We have gone through changes, like moving north, but never have quite had that "All Settled" feeling.  I was almost there, but then God in His perfect wisdom changes it all up.

Facebook had the short version, Blogger gets the long version.

Back up about 3 years ago.  Hubby told me about a dream he had, to attend the Army War College.  He told me it was a long shot, that only a handful of Reservists were chosen to go each year.  Fast forward to last year, his commanding officer, asked him if he had any interest in attending the War College and Hubby said...YES!!  The past few OER's that were given (Officer Evaluation Reports), his CO put, "send to the resident War College".  We both got excited at the prospect, but still understood that the chances of Hubby going was remote.  Last summer, he put in his packet, Army speak for application, and we began the waiting game, again knowing our chances were slim.

Going ahead with real life, we put an offer in on a house that we fell in love with at the beginning of November.  We were assured that we would be in by Christmastime.  In the beginning of December, we found out there was an issue with the title of the property, property lines were in dispute, making us unable to get title insurance.  Our lawyer suggested that we let the owner/seller hash it out even though it would put our closing later that anticipated.  Of course we were all for that until it began to drag on into the middle of January.  Still we decided to wait.  Our mantra became, "God's timing is perfect!", we trusted in that He knew what was going on and we wanted His perfect plan.

January 19th, it was a Thursday night, I tucked Ariel and Belle into bed and came down to a pacing husband.  He was hanging up the phone and the look on his face was that he was ready to pop.  I asked what was up and he said that his CO had called and thought his name was on the list for Resident War College.  Of course I said, "What do you mean, thought?".  His response, "He said he saw my name, but I have to see it!"  That boy could not get his computer fired up quick enough!!  When he finally got it up and going, it took a bit to get to the right page to see the list.  Thankfully, with a name at the beginning of the alphabet, we found his name quickly which was followed by "Primary", which meant he was not on a waiting list...he was IN!!!  I think we screamed, then cried, then laughed, then danced and back to screaming in the course of about 2 minutes.  He kept saying, "I can't believe it!"  As we scrolled through the list, we found out that in a class of 300 only 4 Army Reservists were chosen, and Hubby was one of them.  There has never been a Reservist from the state of Maine attend.

I'm a girl.  I like to nest, I like to plan, I like to take care of my family, I like to know what is ahead.  So, I get online and try to figure out the details.  I should know from 15 years of Army wife-dom that there aren't any details.  I did find the link to student housing and know that there are many types of housing there on post, some huge, some small, but I decided that I didn't really care, we are going to the War College!!  It is something new on my prayer list, I want to be exactly where God wants us. 

So, now comes the tricky part of getting the word out.  We knew that the State Police Commanders would need to be the first to know.  We are so grateful that they have been so supportive.  Then parents were notified and siblings along with a few friends.  Then the next that needed to be told was the Troopers of Hubby's troop.   The outpouring of congrats is overwhelming.  We are so thankful to be a part of this family of Troopers.  Lastly, a Facebook posting got the word out the rest of the way!

What's next?  I'm not totally sure.  I do know that at some point a moving company will come, pack us up and move us.  This might be in June or July, quite a narrow range, huh?  The house that we are currently renting has been purchased, but the new owners have agreed to let us stay until the middle of June, so we are hoping that this will correspond with the moving company.  I have no doubt that God knows all of these details already and has worked them out perfectly.  Again, I will say, God's timing is perfect, and truly trust that it is. 

The hard part now is waiting.  Waiting for details.  Waiting for the move.  Waiting for classes to start.  What an incredible adventure this will be for all of us! 

Homeschool Cavetching

This is the place that I can get it all out, right?  Please don't judge me, I have all this pent up frustration that needs an outlet. I have tortured Hubby enough with my frustrations, so I thought this would be a good forum to let it out.  To all 6 of you who follow this blog, I won't hold it against you if you stop reading right here.  Here.  That's good.  :)

I started homeschooling out of necessity, or what I deemed necessary.  We moved in the middle of October last year to a rent that we knew was going to be short term and about 30 minutes from where we wanted to settle.  After a month of living there we moved to another rent, pretty close to where we thought we wanted to settle.  There is a great Christian school about 15 minutes away, but we thought our lives were still in transition because Uncle Sam had come knocking and we knew we were headed over seas in a couple months.  And, in true Army fashion, a month before orders were to be cut, we were cut, meaning no moving.  Talk about a change in focus!  So we checked out the Christian school and were told by Hubby's superiors not to get too comfy where we are, they would move us back to down home sooner rather than later and around the same time the Army said...we want you....to come to Wisconsin!  It's at this point where I knew that the Christian school was once again not the option we wanted since we'd be moving again.  The ironic thing about all this...Hubby's superiors said, we want you to stay, and the Army said...we are closing down the Wisconsin mission...and we are back to being here and being totally content at the same time.  To me the peace that settled was only from one Place.

So, what's a girl to do besides settle in and get to really know those around her and those that are like minded.  Enter the Homeschoolers group.  Instead of being a non-participant-cuz-I'm-not-going-to-be- around-er I decided I'd participate.  Most of our meetings have been centered around extra curricular activities, not really what I was looking for in a group, but December's meeting the question was thrown out, "Any questions in general about homeschooling?"  There were no takers and I'm filled to the brim with questions, looking to glean knowledge from those who have been doing it a long time.  I'm not a novice, this is my 3rd year, but still, I'm all about making education better.  So, I open my mouth and say, "My 4th grader declared school 'boring'!"  I got lots of giggles and I knew I had kindred spirits in the group.  I'm not looking for school to be super exciting, it's school.  It is what it is, but I don't want it to be boring.  A few suggestions were thrown out but then the question of...what are you doing exactly? was made.  I laid out what Ariel is doing in school, Math, English, Spelling, Literature & Creative Writing, Science, Social Studies, Bible and Animal Science.  The horrified looks I got threw me for a loop!  The conversion then switched to maybe you could let something go, maybe you are trying to do too much, maybe the extra stuff could be dropped for a while, etc.  I was told I was an over achiever.  That actually made me feel very proud, I would so much rather be that than the opposite.  But all I could think of is...what am I doing that is extra?  What I am doing is what she would be expected to do if she was at school, Christian or public.  I then felt like I needed to be on the defensive and explain why I was doing what I was doing.  A few days later, a friend, who was not at the meeting, approaches me at a totally unrelated event and tells me that she heard about the meeting that knows that I am doing too much.  There are so many things that bothered me about that, let alone the statement that she made.

So here's my tirade.  Not all homeschoolers are looking for the easy way out.  Not all the mom's in the group that night thought I was crazy, but most of them did.  Why don't we as moms want our kids to have the very best education that our kids can get?  Ariel wants to be a doctor.  She is in 4th grade and I know that she will change her mind ten times between now and the time that she graduates.  Med school may not be where she chooses to go in the end, but I don't want med school to not be an option for her because I was neglectful in giving her the education that she needs.  If my job is to be the teacher for my girls, why wouldn't I want to push them, it's what I do.  It's the job that I have right now.  I don't have any accountability for my kids' education other than telling the state I'm homeschooling and sending them a test or portfolio each year of their progress.  I don't have a principal evaluating my work or parents telling me they think their kid is learning or not.  All I have are the grades that they are getting on their tests and I see the work that they do day in and day out, but I'm not a 1st or 4th grade teacher.  I don't know exactly what they are supposed know for their grade level.  I'm thankful for the people who have written their curriculum and I am trusting that they knew what they were doing.  I don't feel like I'm pushing my kids, I feel like they are living up to their potential.  They are both smart kids, I'm not talking genius, I'm talking smart, they know what they are doing and with a little coaching, they get it.  I'm thankful for that fact each and everyday.  So why not give them a normal work load, or a bit extra, when they can handle it fine?  Why not try to make their school day full?  Why not try to break the norm and shoot higher?  What is wrong with that?  Why am I being criticized for wanting more?

Here's where I'm wrapping it up.  I think that every mom wants the best for their kid.  I know that we moms obsess about our kids from the moment we conceive.  What am I eating?  How much caffeine am I taking in?  Then they are born and we think, are they sleeping too much?  Too little?  Can I hold them too much?  When should they start eating real stuff?  And then they get bigger and we obsess about television, video games, friends, sports and school.  We homeschool moms take it pretty personally when our way of life is criticized.  Our kids are everything to us and when the way we are raising them is called into question, watch out, here comes momma bear.   So, if we are all in this homeschool boat together, what does it matter if one person does something different than another?  Why can't we be cheerleaders for each other instead of tearing them down?  I guarantee that no matter how much stone throwing we do, when our kids get to college, there will be little difference between them.  1 Corinthians 10:31 says - "So whether you eat or drink [or homeschool] or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."  I did put my own words in there but it applies.  I'm not seeking man's glory, this people pleaser needs to focus on this, I'm seeking God's glory.  I need to wear holes in my PJ knees, begging for mercy and wisdom raising and schooling my girls and be accountable to God alone.