Jan 2010
Listing our home
20/01/10 13:07 Filed in: Personal | Keeping the Home
http://www.cjbrown.com/RLNet/Listings/ListingDetails.aspx?ListingId=1248223&List=Y
Here is a link to our house, now for sale. Bittersweet in some ways. Don's company moving to North Carolina is a real plus to our family. We love the mountains and the beach, which are on either side of Raleigh. We love homeschooling there, although Louisiana has the free college thing going for them.
We think we've already found a church in the area, one that has a homeschool group and lots of potential for our children. I am looking forward to serving and being involved again. You know, Madison and I were talking today about friendships, and I realized how stunted we've been since moving here. This move will be great for us all.
Anyway, the house is now listed after much painting and boxing and moving and cleaning. I have learned even from this opportunity. De-cluttering is a great thing. Every once in a while, you need to go through your junk and get some stuff out. I think I like things to be as put away as possible. It makes it simple to dust and sweep when things are free of clutter. Don said he likes the house this way, somewhat impersonal, but yet clean. We will personalize it with some cool paint and pictures when we move into our new forever home.
What I feel the most sad about is leaving my almond tree. Noah and I planted it last spring and it was so small. It has doubled in size and will probably have a few almonds next fall. Oh well. Hopefully, we'll be able to plant another one at our new home. I already have plans for gardening wherever and whenever we head out.
Here is a link to our house, now for sale. Bittersweet in some ways. Don's company moving to North Carolina is a real plus to our family. We love the mountains and the beach, which are on either side of Raleigh. We love homeschooling there, although Louisiana has the free college thing going for them.
We think we've already found a church in the area, one that has a homeschool group and lots of potential for our children. I am looking forward to serving and being involved again. You know, Madison and I were talking today about friendships, and I realized how stunted we've been since moving here. This move will be great for us all.
Anyway, the house is now listed after much painting and boxing and moving and cleaning. I have learned even from this opportunity. De-cluttering is a great thing. Every once in a while, you need to go through your junk and get some stuff out. I think I like things to be as put away as possible. It makes it simple to dust and sweep when things are free of clutter. Don said he likes the house this way, somewhat impersonal, but yet clean. We will personalize it with some cool paint and pictures when we move into our new forever home.
What I feel the most sad about is leaving my almond tree. Noah and I planted it last spring and it was so small. It has doubled in size and will probably have a few almonds next fall. Oh well. Hopefully, we'll be able to plant another one at our new home. I already have plans for gardening wherever and whenever we head out.
Madison grows up a little more...
19/01/10 22:55 Filed in: Things for Girls!!! | Personal
Here is a shot of my little girl about to get her ears pierced at Claire's in the mall. She turned 10 years old this month, and we decided that it would be okay to get her ears pierced. We talked at length about our bodies and what we want to project as women. There is a big difference between piercing your ear and piercing all the other parts of your body. And they are done for totally different reasons. I wanted Madison to see that it is okay to want to be pretty and feminine, but it is not okay to put holes all over your body to get men to look at you. Yes, I wax protective, because I want her to grow up to be confident of who she is in this backwards world.
Anyway, she was very brave, even though we teased her that it would hurt so bad she would scream and cry. She said it hurt but not that much. Her choice of her first earring was her birthstone, the amethyst. Many people believe that wearing your birthstone brings good luck, health, or wards off bad luck, however, birthstones really have their origins in... you guessed it... Scripture! Another thing taken by the world and twisted into folklore. In Exodus 28, the priests of the 12 Tribes of Israel are instructed to make a breastplate of sorts, called the breastplate of judgments or the breastplate of decisions. It contained one jewel for each of the 12 Tribes and was worn when the priest made a judgment call on something. Pretty cool! Of course, over time, this was taken to other cultures and eventually came to symbolize the 12 stones for the 12 months of the year. Eventually, the Jewelers of America came up with a standardized American version of the 12 birthstones. That is the chart we use today.
Enough history lesson... let's see her with her new earrings...
There she is! She looks great, and she is busy cleaning them 3 times a day for the next 6 weeks. She's already acting older and more mature... we'll see how long that lasts! LOL!
4-H Camp T-shirt Contest Winner!
15/01/10 16:24 Filed in: Homeschooling | Homeschooling the High Schooler
Here is a shot of my awesome son, Noah. He won the Louisiana Camp Grant Walker T-Shirt contest with his drawing and slogan. All three kids entered the contest, and the judge said that theirs also made finals. Great job, Noah! I'm proud of you!
I encourage all homeschool families to consider 4-H. You can learn more about 4-H on my CHEF 4-H page. It is a great venue for the children to learn competition, speaking skills, and leadership opportunities. The project books can be done as unit studies and the kids love them! There is something for everyone, from photography to fashion, to of course, livestock. The involvement is minimal compared to other clubs, and there are also opportunities for the children to serve their community in volunteer projects.
