A Month in a Moment

Oh. My. Goodness!
I never thought I would see the day that I did not blog for a MONTH. Yet that is precisely what has happened.
So lets see, what have we been up to for a month?

Jan 5- We went back to the books after a nice winter break. I have been absolutely AMAZED at how the kids are thriving in their school work. Little girl went from sounding out simple three letter words to reading 30-60 page books seemingly overnight. Her love of words has paid off as she is able to decode words that have not been introduced and has memorized nearly 100 sight words that don't follow the normal phonics pattern. Amazing I tell ya.
Since the kids are plugging away without too much struggle we will actually finish school EARLY this year. It is rather exciting. Last year I was debating not finishing our curriculum and this year I don't even have to worry about it.

Jan 8- After a few days of getting back into the gym to workout I had a heart episode. I was getting off the treadmill when my heart started acting crazy, I felt light headed and like I was going to pass out or throw up. I got to my husbands treadmill; leaning against it for about 10-15 minutes until I felt better. It was all very odd. I did not think too much of it , mostly that I had overdid the workout. That was until a family member also had heart issues and urged me to get mine checked out. After an EKG, stress test and echo, I am assured that all is well with my heart. I can workout but must watch my heart rate not letting it get over 160.

Jan-16 The kids and I went to Twistars gymnastics for an open gym. It was a blast. I was flipping on the trampoline. The kids loved jumping into the pit of foam. The boy was able to finally take his grandpas challenge of climbing a rope all the way to the top. I would venture to guess it was about 30ft up and HE DID IT! He also learned a few moves of the bars and rings.

Jan 18- My husband, son and I took place in the Greater Lansing Church of Christ food drop. Beginning this fall church leaders from 30 of our area met together with Mayor Virg Benero regarding Lansing's needs. With economy of the decline and area food banks shelves dwindling the leaders decided it was time to take action. On Christmas Eve the churches took up an offering that was 100% for the food banks, raising $111,000, far exceeding the original goal of $40,000. On the 18th all the churches met together, celebrated with a rally, praise and prayer. Then went out into the community delivering 2,000 food boxes. Feeding the hungry. The boy and I were part of unloading the big moving trucks full of boxes of food. Hubby helped direct traffic to keep the cars coming for boxes moving smoothly. After our truck was unloaded, Two friends, the boy and I went out into the community and delivered 4 boxes ourselves. An incredible moment. Churches of every race and denomination coming TOGETHER. Beautiful.

Jan 20- We took the day off of school and camped ourselves out in front of the TV to watch Inauguration 2009. What a historic day! I was moved by President Obamas speech and look forward with great expectation to the positive change that can happen. And while we still have farther to go as a nation, seeing our first African American president did my heart good. "The God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."

Jan 23- Netflix met Xbox Liv. Since we dropped our cable a few months back it has been wonderful having so many movies and TV shows for instant viewing. :)

Jan 30- Enrichment Day is back. For the next 10 weeks we will be meeting with 15 other homeschooling families in a co-op focusing on Character, Art and Literature and Gym. I am once again teh gym teacher and am super excited about so new games I have learned. Paramedic. Treasure. Four Corners. Soup. It is going to be so much fun these next 8 weeks that remain.

Feb 3- I hid the video game remotes in our house as I (and the kids) were spending entire too much time playing games. And not enough time cleaning the house and focusing on my responsibilities. I am slowly getting back into a place of obedience and discipline. If that means hidding the remotes, so be it.

Feb 5- For the last couple of weeks we have been studying birds. Beaks, flight, feathers, migration, different species, etc. On the 5th I got together the book called Beaks and various kitchen tools that represent beaks in nature. Pecking,(fingers) stabbing, (skewers) hooked, (can opener) crushing, (nut cracker)and others. We met up with another family and had an impromptu discussion on beaks at Fenner Nature center. Where we read the book, did hands-on with the different tools and observed birds at the bird feeder. Cool stuff. Then as we were discussing crossbills(knife sharpener) the director came out all excited as we currently have crossbills in our area when we never have before. Apparently Canada is having a shortage of pine cones this year so the birds have come down to munch on ours. With that knowledge we went out on a hike in search of the white winged crossbill. Then went driving through Mt Hope Cemetery where they have been spotted. We did not see any but it sparked something in each of us. a new love and respect for birds.
In the evening we went to our first ever Audubon Society meeting and ended up joining. While the topic was some what depressing; Botulism in Great Lake Birds. It was rather fascinating.
As I have mentioned in the past my love for nature. I have a passion for seeing others out and enjoying it. I sense that we will be getting more heavily involved as well as encouraging others to join us.

Feb 7- I have started a new resolve to lose weight. As I have been exploring my heath and issues I am having it appears that my thyroid is out of whack due to gaining weight. So if it means losing 15-20 pounds to be healthy. This is what I am doing. Eating right, exercise and refocusing my relationship with Christ. It should be an interesting journey.

Today- Today is a new day. The blog is up to date and perhaps I will be more diligent in the coming days.

God bless!