Psalms 62:1

My soul waits in silence for God only ~Psalms 62:1

Lord, I do not rush on.

I do not hurry on into the noise.

I silence my whirring mind, my racing thoughts.

I close my eyes.

I sit.

I pause.

I rest.

I stay here a moment in the quiet.

I wait in silence for You only.

I need more silence in my life. My house is always full of noise and activity and lists of things to be done and places to go... I need to somehow carve out daily meditation and prayer.

Un día sucio

A dirty day
Yesterday was really fun. We stayed home and did gardening and misc. yard work all day. We cleaned out the garage and swept up tons of dirt, dust, leaves, and other foreign garbage. Then we all took turns power washing our entire front patio and driveway which was no small endeavor. We were hoping to power wash the back patio too but didn't make it that far this time. Our house is surrounded by little, bumpy, white rock "stuff" which probably looked fabulous when it was brand new but at this point, it's a pain in the BUTT to keep clean! The dirt (and mold in the shaded area) builds up in the cracks and sweeping merely gets the top layer off so black/brown dirt settles in between all the little rock bumps. So, now it looks much much better even though it's still not completely white.

Our next big project was cleaning up the pool area. We trimmed the hedges all around it, dug out weeds, dead leaves and TONS of fallen pine needles from the dirt edges and mowed the surrounding grass. We ended up dragging out eight huge, black trash bags of green debris. We also scrubbed down all the lawn chairs and continually moved the hose to water the backyard grass. Travis ended the day ( it was dark by the time we finished) with a huge SPLASH in the pool. :-)

The funny (read "irritating" into this word) thing about this is that we pay for a gardener with our monthly rental dues. We were so excited about this luxury when we moved in earlier this year but he has proven himself basically worthless as a gardener. I think he's mowed the entire lawn only two times all summer. But each time he came, he only mowed one side at a time so we were always wondering when the rest of it would get done. Travis did it several times because it would get so bad and we've had to trim the tree branches and flowering vines ourselves all summer so we wouldn't have to walk on them. We're thinking the "luxury" of having paid help is not really all it's cracked up to be. We've spent way too much time gripping about it and would have much rather just been responsible for it all ourselves. The problem is, is that our "gardener" ended up being our landlord/home owner...so we CAN'T fire him!!

The sweetest part of the day for me was watching Isaac enjoy being outside with all of us. He spent time in the stroller, the exersaucer and the tree swing. However, he had a lot of time getting down and dirty! For the first time I let him play like a kid outside instead of keeping him safe and clean wrapped up like a baby. (bitter sweet) I let him crawl around in the grass and dig in the flower pots, and sit in the water puddles, and chase the cat and push the balls around the yard. I'm sure he ate a bit of dirt and maybe an ant but he was so happy all day. I tried to take pictures of him at the end of the day because his clothes were dirty and damp from all of this outside activity. They didn't end up very good because he had pooped by the time I was trying to get a good shot of him so he needed a diaper change and he was getting very fussy. I'll post the pic later today. I plopped him in the tub, nursed him for twenty minutes, tucked into his crib and he slept like a baby all night long.

el anillo de la libertad...

Let Freedom Ring...through the school halls
I'm feeling very grateful for my right to raise my children as I see best, without government permission or controll. It's a liberty I don't take for granted. I've often heard of how strict Germany is about their government run school system and just ran across a couple of news articles about how Sweden and Germany are now both anti homeschool countries.
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...Mike Farris says that Sweden will ban all home schooling except for children with medical exemptions and foreign workers with the appropriate work visas. "That's it. People who have religious convictions or are home schooling for religious reasons will not be given one of these very rare exemptions," he points out. "And so for all intents and purposes, home schooling is going to be banned in Sweden. They're following the German statute, following the German model."...

...Mike Donnelly is a staff attorney with the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) and says home schoolers in Germany are under great persecution. He also notes many German families home school in secret, but if they get caught, they can face fines in the thousands of dollars, lose their personal property, get thrown in jail, or even have their children taken from them. One family, according to Donnelly, has suffered so much persecution that the HSLDA is now helping them seek asylum in the United States. The Romeike family was faced with thousands of dollars in fines and the potential loss of their five children if they did not comply with the demands of German social workers who wanted to put their children in government-run schools...
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This is the kind of thing that makes me want to print up and proudly wear tee shirts that say "I'm a Christian, American, Home Schooler" while on a family vacation to Sweden and Germany, to tour the government buildings and surrounding areas. :-) hee/hee/hee

Earlier this month, Travis and I were eating dinner at an oceanside resaurant enjoying the view and the awesome Italian food when we happened to strike up a friendly conversation with two women that were sitting at the table next to ours. We had all of our kids with us so of course they commented on what a big family we had...that, yes, they were all ours...yes, they all had very curly hair, except the baby...etc. We shared that we were living in Spain for 3 years because of the military and they shared that they were from Germany, both school teachers, on their regular summer vacation in Spain. Then they asked us if our kids went to Spanish school or the military base school. "No, we homeschool our children" we replied. They were almost speachless at this point but proceeded to share that they had never met a family that homeschooled and they couldn't imagine how we could actually do it. They thought only families that lived on small boats might do something like that but not a "regular, nice" family like ours. Needless to say, it was a very interesting turn in our conversation because I knew they came from a country that didn't allow this type of education. I believe we were able to represent our lifesyle in a positive way and thank goodness all my children were very well behaved and friendly through out the dinner . I pray that it will in some little way, be a good reflection of our God-given right and responsibility to raise and educate our precious children as we, the parents, are free to choose.

Dia-en-la-Vida

Day-in-the-Life
For the last couple of weeks, I've been enjoying the blog hop hosted over here. I've had the very best of intentions to jump in but just haven't been on top of things enough to "do it right." We started including schoolwork into our days, two weeks ago and it's been taking all my energy and focus each day to be consistent and productive with the daily priorities. Which is especially difficult to do when summer is still surrounding us in weather...pool time...drama practice...end of summer play dates, etc. I'm up late tonight and enjoying some peace and quiet so I've decided to just do the best I can right now with this weeks theme.

I've spent lots of time this summer working through curriculum choices, schedules, routines, priorities and to be truely honest, even wavering a little on whether or not homeschooling is worth all this effort on my part. It seems like I have a lot of challenges to work through. However, for the most part, I'm really looking forward to this year. It has the potential to be one our best years so far. We're not moving, pregnant or having a new baby. We're settled and have a perfectly full house!
My baby will become a toddler in the coming months and needs his own daily schedule and routine that we'll all have to work around. He also has his own busy schedule of audiology appointments, and regular speech therapy to weave into each week.
In addition to that, I've enrolled my 3rd grader in the public school for one more year so I'll have his school schedule and deadlines to juggle. I'm not convinced this is the best place for him this year but we're going to start out this way and see how it goes. ('nuff said) This won't start until next week though.
That leaves me home with my 6th and 2nd graders. 6th grade will become more and more independently, self-managed. I sit with her for daily math lessons (RightStart) and help her through her writing program (IEW) but I also see my part shifting more into staying a couple steps ahead of her to help her set weekly goals and then following up with each subject on a weekly basis. (Beautiful Feet history, Apologia science, Calvert spelling, GWG grammar) The trickiest part will be to keep her motivated and on task. Over the years, she's learned to escape into her never ending pile of books to be read. She can fade into the background for hours on end if I don't interrupt her to keep her focused on her other responsibilities. At least I know how to motivate her with the promise of new books for the weekends. :-)
One of the things I love about homeschooling is being able to work one-on-one with my kids. Much of our 2nd grade curriculum needs me to sit along side her and work together through the lessons. (RightStart math, FLL grammar, Read Aloud SOTW and Apologia science, SWR spelling/writing) I just can't get excited about assigning workbooks and textbook reading in the early elementary grades. This is where having a wiggly, demanding, short attention span, wants to put everything in his mouth, nursing baby makes homeschooling stressful for a Mommy. With my first homeschooling child, it was much easier. This time around, there is so much more to juggle so I'll have to be flexible and realistic with daily expectations.
Keeping all of that in mind, I think we need another month to get a better grasp on what our daily routine actually is. But as for now, I'm working on consistency and attitudes to get through our daily checklists. Ideally, this is what I'm shooting for (basically).
7:00 - Wake up with hubby, walk on the treadmill, quick yoga stretches, shower... E. wake up and get moving
8:00 - I. wake up, nurse, breakfast (available from 7:30-8:30), walk E. to the bus stop, C. S. up and moving
9:00 - finish up morning chores of bedrooms, kitchen and bathroom needs and start school with circle time activities: bible lesson, Latin roots, Spanish review/practice, review today's tasks/goals
10:00 - math, writing, reading, spelling, grammar: I'm allowing 1hr/child for me to focus on
12:30-1:30 lunch, kids outside, laundry or cleaning f/u, baby time to eat/nurse/nap
1:00 - independent work, reading time
2:00 - together for history, science, or art/crafts
3:00 - finish up "homework" and wrap it up for the day, clean up, piano practice
4:00 - walk to the bus stop to get E., play outside
5:00 - prep, eat and clean up dinner, help with E. homework
7:00 - Daddytime and general evening craziness
9:00- kids in bed, baby time
10:00 - wind down with t.v., book, blog, etc. or just crash and call it a day at this point!
REALITY CHECK: Reality isn't this pretty or predictable because on any given day, we throw in dr. appts., sports practice, scouting, and various after school programs and then things from this routine need to be shifted around. Oh and laundry takes considerable time each week as does a weekly grocery shopping spree and the daily meal planning and prepping. However, I persevere and am always tweaking checklists and trying out new ideas to make this real life part of my life run as smoothly as possible...it's definitely a work in progress for me... Any tried and true tips?

mis niños

My children

Living in Spain seems to be influencing us a little.

Camryn 11, Ethan 9, Isaac 11 months, Sloan 6

August, 2009

Chapoteo del Verano

Summer Splash
We have spent hours and hours splashing in the pool this summer. It has been a blast to have our own pool in the back yard! In addition to our own pool, we've spent 6 weeks total at the pool on base for swimming lessons. All three kids had lessons for two weeks, then Sloan continued for another two weeks. At the beginning of August, Camryn and Ethan decided to join the school swim team, the Tiborunes. They've been swimming laps twice a week with the swim team while Sloan enrolled into another two week lesson session. Today is her last day of lessons and next Saturday will be the first swim meet for Camryn and Ethan. All three kids have improved their swim skills exponentially this summer! They just can't get enough spash time and my attention is constantly responding to, "Hey Mom, look at this...did you see that...watch me do this...!" Here's a glimpse of it all:

Corrida de Toros

Bullfight

Travis and Ethan went to their first bullfight last week. They both came home very happy with the experience. I mean, how can we live in Spain and not see a bullfight?! They tooks lots of pictures and video clips to show us girls what it was like. I might go myself but really, I'm not so sure it will be entertaining to me to watch them slowly kill three bulls in one night. Travis says it's very well done with respect and dignity and it's such a rich part of the Spanish culture that it's worth it to see again with me. I'll add a couple video clips if your interested in seeing some live action. (these are all glimpses of the "more mild" pics that I don't mind having on MY blog)

Una dia de loca

A crazy day

It all started when I ended up taking a cold shower from start to finish. Apparently the solar panels are not working all of a sudden. (brrr) Can I just add that while standing in the middle of freezing cold water I found there was no bar of soap and none in the storage drawer AND I had to scrape the already empty conditioner bottle. (grrr)

A couple hours later, Camryn starts screaming because she's discovered a dead bird floating in our pool. Ethan and I had to fish it out and dispose of it (yuck)

In the middle of the hot afternoon, our electricity cuts off. The a/c and fans stop. After checking the breaker box and finding everything as it should be, I found an electrician working in the main power box outside of our house. He explains, in Spanish, that the bill has been paid but he is just "fixing" things. About 5 minutes later, we had power back. (wierd)

The day came to an end so I tucked all the kids in bed and went to bed myself. Two hours later, Ethan wakes me up because he woke up, throwing up! No other sickness symptoms before or after this. I helped him shower, and tucked him into a sleeping bag, then spent the next part of my night scraping puke off of his sheets, cleaning the wall and nearby window, and starting a load of laundry. (gross)

In the middle of going back and forth to the laundry room, I decided it was very hot and stuffy in the house so I opened up the back patio door and a few of the windows. At one point, I walked into the living room to find a black yes, a black, stray cat running OUT of my house upon seeing me. (yikes)

After getting back in bed, I woke up three hours later to a crying baby that usually always sleeps through the night but this night he needed to nurse for half an hour before calming back down to sleep a few more hours. (sigh)

It was at this point, I was convinced that the last 24 hours must have really been "unaligned" in my Aries horoscope. ~not that I "believe" in that kind of thing :-) The next morning, was a fresh start and everything went back to normal, in our crazy family sort of normal way. Thank goodness!

Iglesia Cristiana para todas nación

All Nations Christian Fellowship Puerto de Santa Maria

Puerto Santa Maria based Christian fellowship beliefs are as follows: BELIEFS (The following is an excerpt from the "Tenets of Faith".) The Bible is our all-sufficient rule for faith and practice. This Statement of Fundamental Truths is intended simply as a basis of fellowship among us i.e., that we all speak the same thing (1 Corinthians 1:10; Acts 2:42). the phraseology employed in this statements is not inspired or contended for, but the truth set forth is held to be essential to a full-gospel ministry. No claim is made that it contains all Biblical truth, only that it covers our need as to these fundamental doctrines (teachings).
The Scriptures Inspired We believe that The Scriptures, both the Old and New Testament, are verbally inspired of God and are the revelation of God to man, the infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct (2 Timothy 3:15-17; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Peter 1:21).
The One True God The one true God has revealed himself as the eternally self-existent "I AM", the Creator of heaven and earth and the Redeemer of mankind. He has further revealed himself as embodying the principles of relationship and association as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 43:10,11; Matthew 28:19; Luke 3:22).
The Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. The Scriptures declare: 1. His virgin birth, (Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:31,35). 2. His sinless life, (Hebrews 7:26; 1 Peter 2:22). 3. His miracles, (Acts 2:22; 10:38). 4. His substitutionary work on the cross, (1 Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21). 5. His bodily resurrection from the dead, (Matthew 28:6; Luke 24:39; 1 Corinthians 15:4). 6. His exaltation to the right hand of God (Acts 1:9,11; 2:23; Philippians 2:9-11; Hebrews 1:3).

ANCF people and objectives The main thrust and philosophy of ANCF is to provide answers for people with present day needs.  Just as the name implies -All Nations- we are a meeting place for people of several nationalities.  Presently, people from 11 different nations attend ANCF! We like that very much because each culture has something special to contribute to others.  Needless to say, this is noticeable during our "Fellowship Meals" where distinct "flavors" become the focus and enjoyment. No matter the nationality or the background of a visitor, they are always welcome! The beginning and present meeting place AllNations Christian Fellowship (ANCF) began over twenty years ago in Rota in the late 1970's. It was started by a few American Christian ladies, who saw the need to provide a place of worship for the military personnel of the Rota Naval Base.  Like most organizations, it evolved with the passing of time and according to the objectives. About six years ago the meeting place moved to the English Centre (EC) in El Puerto, meeting there each Sunday, except during the Summer.

Meetings in the Hotel Santa Maria (in El Puerto) are from Sunday June 13th - Sunday August 29th.   The meetings begin at 11:30 AM - Hotel Address: Los Moros corner with Avenida de la Baja Mar.

Sunday service is at 11:30 AM, either at the English Center or in the Hotel Santa Maria. English is the main language of each service, although it is simultaneously translated to Spanish through a wireless system. Worthy of notice is that songs of worship are sung both in English and in Spanish.  Sunday Teaching The Sunday teaching is dynamic and with relevant themes.  The Sunday "notes" are send by email to those who wish to receive them.
Children's Program Children from ages 3-12 have their own time and program. We use a special curriculum for kids, design for the various age groups.  The very little, enjoy coloring (trying at least) and the Sunday snack.The kids program is both in English and in Spanish.	Little girl enjoying the Spanish dress one Sunday during the service