Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!

WOW!!!!!!  I just realized I have been blogging for 6 YEARS now, off and on of course!  I was looking through some old posts and am sad that the other blog I had hosted is gone....bye, bye! :o(  Boo!  RunGinaRun.com was dropped and I can't find it any longer. It makes me so sad because I had lots of photos and "life" written there since Fifi was born.  Lesson learned.  Do what I need to do MYSELF. Grrrr...


Anyway, I went back and read my very first post written August 12, 2007 and am just BLOWN away at how much my life has changed in only 6 years!!

I went from a "Non-Believer" to a woman with a heart for God, His message, His "way".

I went from a mom of 1 plus an infant to a mom of 3!

I went from a lonely girl living in a strange, VERY foreign place to a woman with lots of people surrounding me, living in a little town I call home.

I went from living in a small apartment to buying our first very small home to now renting that home out and renting a very large home, capacity full!

Over the 6 years my sister moved here with us and my mother followed not too long after as well.

I learned how to put my servant's heart to work out in the community around us.

I learned all about church politics and many, many, many, many lessons from it all. (remember, I was never a church goer!)

I've done all sorts of crafty things to bring in extra money from birthday invitations on little magnets to sewing!

I've witnessed all three of my babies go from itty bitty to beautiful "little people" in what seems like a FLASH! (How are they 10,7 and 4??!!!!)

I became a runner, a triathlete and a marathoner and have the medals to prove it! LOL  (I sometimes don't believe I even did any of it!  Haven't done more than 4 miles in forever!!!)

I developed a green thumb, while a little brown this season, LOL, and enjoyed many fruits of my labor over the past 3 seasons!

I guess what I'm getting at, is that at 37 years old, I've truly started to come into my own, especially the past year when I decided to just BE STILL.

What other reason could there be that I became a HOMESCHOOLING MOM!!!  It *must* be just me, figuring out "ME", taking a deep breath, being brave for just a minute to make the decision and jumping right in!

I am in my element.

The desires of my heart, fullfilled......even when I want to pull my hair out, I am JOY FILLED!

There is SUCH a difference between happiness and JOY.  I've always been a "happy" person, the "glass is half full girl", but being "joyful", well that is something so very different.

As I pull my school stuff together for the year and enjoy the last week of summer with my babies, family and friends, I'm FULL of JOY!

Morning Meeting Board

Well, we have had an AWESOME summer (collage pics to come later this week!), it is time for me to slowly get back into "School Groove"!  I've had all our curriculum purchased since July and have the school room "together" enough so now it's just working on details, the fun stuff.....first up....

Our Morning Meeting Board!

I'm thinking we will do this downstairs after breakfast, do Bible, and then head upstairs to move on with the workboxes! Again, I'm "thinking", we will play it by ear and see how it goes!  Planning in pencil, ALWAYS!

I got the idea from the homeschool mama that has helped lead me, encourage me and pour into me over the past year!  Funny thing is I reconnected with her hubby (same highschool graduating class....thanks Facebook!) and saw communication with her and another friend of mine regarding crafting, etc., etc.....well come to find out she HOMESCHOOLED too! Just wish she was here and not Massachusetts! LOL  This lady ROCKS!  She crafts, she bakes, she educates, she's a Christ centered, loving, giving, VERY special soul that I'm honored to call a friend!  It's funny how you can connect with someone and instantly become friends, God works in such amazing ways like that!!  Go check out her blog here!

When I first ventured into the Homeschool world, I had the guidance and support of ONE friend, now I'm surrounded by homeschooling mamas!  Even our little town is FILLING UP with them!  How cool is that??!!  I'll be blogging more about my excitement, my fear, and a day in the life of course!  I just wanted to put some links here to help support and encourage other moms.  These things are time savers which equal LIFE SAVERS to me! LOL

Everything I printed I found from the links on Di's page here.

I printed the shapes from here.

The other supplies I used are:

* Laminator, They also sell them at Walgreens for same price!

* Laminating Pouches, best deal is 100 on Amazon but I ran out and picked up a 20 pack at Walgreens for $5.99 today. (was NOT waiting to order or I would never have finished the board today! LOL)

* Hole Punch

* Generic Command Hooks from Dollar Tree

* Velcro from Dollar General

* Calendar, dates, months all from Dollar Tree yesterday

* Tri Fold board, $2 at Walmart

* Metal rings, picked up 8 pack at Walmart yesterday for $2. Should have ordered them online but again, didn't want to wait. 

Hope this helps save some mom a little time!