Football in the Best house :D

My boy played real ball this year!It was not the fun, rolling on the ground free to tackle game that he thought it was going to be. It was a lot of hard work and practice. He greatly improved throughout the season and had a pretty good year. Our little huskies went 5-3 and made it to the second round of the playoffs. Britton's best game was against Morris. He scored a touchdown and got a good first down for the team! Here's some pics to recap our first football season!


Britton's Best Fan's


This is what Cade did during game time!


Our future cheerleader

Britton at homecoming :D




Action shots:




TOUCHDOWN BRITTON!!

Just a swingin'

We finally have a swing set!!!! This has truly been a family build! All 3 kids have put some sweat into the building of our new play set! Our GIRL put in the most hours. She loves tools and building, much more than the boys. I guess she gets that from her Gram and Nana!! Anyhow, here are some pics from this family project. This was a play-set in a box that we put together. We are not "handymen", so we needed a step by step instructional to help us pull it all together :D I want even get into how long it took, the important part of this project is that IT"S FINISHED!

THE KIDS TOOL BOX:








So, that's it. The Best family build! We still want to clean up the back yard and tidy up the play-set area with some pea gravel. Hopefully that will happen sooner, rather than later :D

Victory!

Today we had a victorious moment. The kind that makes a Momma weep tears of joy. Chesney was struggling today, actually the past couple of days. We had a long talk last night about how to give her struggles to Jesus immediately when she senses them coming. We talked about how Mommy would remind her to pray and cry out to Jesus when I saw the the struggles presenting. So today we had that moment. We were all in the school room doing school. She started melting before my eyes and was on the verge of complete breakdown. I reminded her to close her eyes and pray, "help me Jesus". She did just that, then she opened her eyes and began her reading lesson again. She read better than ever and was completely calm. I began praising her and as I did, her big brother, sitting across the room spoke up. Britton says, "Mommy, Mommy, I began praying for her too. When you asked her to pray, God reminded me that two are better than one. That if two pray together they are stronger!" So, Mommy that's what I did. I prayed in that exact moment for Jesus to help her, and it worked!" It was such an amazing moment. You always wonder if your children are really learning what you teach them, and today God showed me, that they are! In addition to that I saw an sweet tenderness occur between these two siblings. She was so touched that he was praying for her, and he was so in awe of God answering his prayers. They were inseparable, serving one another and playing together the rest of the day. We prayed for God to be glorified in our home today, during bible time this morning. He was glorified indeed! What a beautiful day!

My Little Man turns 9!

Britton has grown up to be such a fine young boy. We celebrated his 9th birthday last week.On his birthday he awoke saying, "Mommy, this year I really feel older! I can tell I'm 9 now. I really feel different today!"
We kicked off the celebration with some delicious homemade strawberry cake! Mrs. Bobbie came over and taught me a thing of two about cake making and helped us produce this yummy cake:


This year for Britton's birthday we went to Treetop Family Adventure. We took 4 little boys and played tons of arcade games, some laser tag, and a game of putt-putt. Then our family met us for cake and presents. It ended with Britton proclaiming that it was his best birthday yet!
Sweet friends and family gave Britton some awesome presents. He received a new big boy bike, a nintendo dsi, a new gaming case, some football cards, gift cards, and sumari swords. All in all it was a great birthday.
Mommy loves you little man!! You bless my life and fill it with joy daily! Your wild hair, freckles and mouth that never stops makes life worth living! I am so very proud of you!!

Rest

A time for REST. This is what I have heard the Lord say over and over again for the past few months. It was as if He was standing beside me screaming it in my ear so that it would sink into my heart. So, we listened. This past month has been just that; a lot of R&R for our family on the weekends. The last day of August our beautiful church closed her doors. After much prayer our Pastors decided it was time to go our separate ways. Its been devastating in many regards, peaceful in others. This faith family have been through a lot together and was so very close. Yet, the Lord said it's time to separate. Part of me totally understood the Lords direction, part of me doesn't. However, after our last Sunday together weeping, praying, praising Jesus and one last big lunch together, our family decided to rest. We have been to the beach, to the lake, and just hanging out together for the month of September. It has been so fulfilling to just BE family. To love and play with our children. The REST has been so very needed and good. So, now its time to find a new church family. I pray the Lord will place us just where He wants us. I pray that we will be restored and renewed. I pray that He will take our past and use it to shape our future in church, ministry, and as a family. So,here we go. Lord, lead us, guide us, give us direction. We love you and trust you heavenly Father.

A New Beginning : A Classical Christian Community

We started here:




And ended here:



This book was recommended for me to read the first year we began our homeschooling adventure with Britton.He was 5 at the time, going into Kindergarten. I read it, took a few gems from it, but for the most part was overwhelmed. I remember thinking, I'm not smart enough to train my child's mind in that way. So, we started out learning to read and write with a wonderful resource: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. We loved that book and still use it to this day to teach our children how to read. We then moved on to your typical boxed curriculum. It really did not work out for us. After 1st grade I was really struggling. I felt like we were behind and not progressing well. So, Keith and I began praying and were lead back to The Well Trained Mind. We read it together and felt the Lord leading us to begin schooling in this manner. I was intimidated and worried that I couldn't do it. We began 2nd grade doing school classically. Britton, was really learning and growing much more than the previous year. It was beautiful. However, I still had some old feelings of inadequacy. I was not trained classically, yet I was trying to teach my children in that way. I had great books that lead me and helped me, but I felt I needed some help. Keith and I began praying again and the Lord answered! He walked us right into a seminar at the state homeschooling convention. The seminar was called "Classical Conversations." We really thought this would be a seminar that just taught us more on educating our children classically. Boy, were we wrong. It blew us a way. Classical conversations is a christian community, that school together 1 day a week classically, and then go home and build upon what they learned on that day.Parents and children do school together with a tutor training us both. This was exactly what I needed! So, we took all the information in, prayed about it, and here we are on our first day of schooling with CC:








The first day went better than I expected. My kids are learning things that I never dreamed they could learn. I feel like I am finally learning things that I should have learned in high school! My kids are walking around the house singing Latin, and loving it!
I love that we serve a God who not only calls us to do bigger things than ourselves, but gives us the tools to do what he's calling us to do too! I cried out to him on behalf on my children, and he answered. We serve such a great, great God! I'm looking forward to watching my children grow and learn this year. I feel the Lord is nudging me to start a new CC in my own city. I'm looking forward to see the doors He opens to make that a possibility. I know that I can not do it without Him!
Here is some video of Chesney's first presentation:


Here is a clip of them practicing their memory work. This is the history timeline they are learning:


You can learn more about this great christian community at:
www.classicalconversations.com

Cade's prayers

God bless Mommy, Daddy,ummm.. Mr. Sasha, Caroline, Mrs Bobbie, ummm... Mrs Mewinda, Papaws lake,Nana's beach, my car's,my helmet, Britton, Chesney, Mommy's car, my light,
"Mommy that's my light!". To which I say, "Yes, Cade it is, keep praying sweetie." Oh, Britton, Chesney, Cade, Cade, Amen.