Anyway you look at Jeremiah 29:11 in the Bible, it's pretty amazing and such a great reminder of the useless hours we spend "planning" our lives and trying to live it out the way that we think it should run.
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the
Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."- ESV
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the
Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. - NIV
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the
Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. - KJV
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Looking back at the last post, I soon realized that it's been almost a year now since I've blogged. I forget how much I love to blog. I love to write and this gives me an opportunity to do so in such a way that helps clear my mind of many things (good/bad/happy/sad/encouraging/despairing/etc.)
This past year has brought many tears. Tears of of frustration, anger, bitterness, and in the end tears of JOY as I reflect on how wonderful Jesus Christ is to have carried me through to nearly the end of 2013. I'll update you now on what has gone on this past year with a few photos/captions/stories!
January 2013
The new year brings quite the excitement in our house! We are only a couple of months away from ending a HUGE BURDEN/CHAPTER in our lives...HOMESCHOOLING! For many years prior to having children and also after, I pondered/prayed about the possibility of homeschooling. There are many great benefits to schooling from home. When it came down it deciding to do it or not, we were led at the time to give it a try. We soon found out that homeschooling was NOT in the Lord's plan for us in the school year to follow. It was the most challenging, trying, most depressing year of my life. I was more than overwhelmed and am still recovering. I ended up on medication for depression, the kids and I cried at least once a week - we just survived. We started out behind and ended a bit behind, but who cares! Looking back I'm thankful that we took a leap of faith to give it a try. We all grew so much as a family, and I was able to see my children's strengths/weaknesses develop over the year.
After Christmas playtime!
February 2013
We played the lottery! Not for money but for schools. Where I come from (small town Arkansas), school is school and everyone goes to the public school in their district. If you choose to go to private school, you enroll, pay and your done!
Not in NC! There are public schools, private schools, charter schools, and magnet schools. Planning for school for the 2013/2014 year begins with deadlines in FEBRUARY! The wonderful thing about living in the Triangle of NC is there are many many options for schooling. That too can be overwhelming to say the least. Prior to homeschooling, my kids attended a Private Christian School which we loved, but it was breaking the bank and was about to cost more than our mortgage. We decided to look at other options for schooling. Each child was allowed to apply to be in the lottery for 3 schools (charter/magnet). Basically its a random drawing from everyone in the area who wants to get in. But prior to putting names on the list, I visited several of the school and took tours too. Thankfully (under most circumstances) if one child gets in all the siblings get in too! There were two schools that really caught my eye, so we were sure to add those to the list. Well, Jacob got in one school. Both Lizzy and Jacob got into the other school. And Andrew got into a third school.
After much prayer we decided on Sandy Ridge Elementary. It is a magnet school which is humanities based. They offer "specials" (a portion of class time everyday) in Spanish, Theater, Art, Dance, Music, and PE. If you know anything about me - I LOVE SOME HUMANITIES, and my kids have picked up that love.
When we went to the open house we mentioned to the the principle that only two of our children had been accepted into the school. He said that should not be. He wanted our information and he called the DPS school offices the next week and made sure that Andrew was on the list and in the school. This was our first introduction to the school...talk about standing out as top notch already! Now to just finish up the homeschooling year, survive the summer, and public school here we come!
March 2013
This month was pretty low key. We had Durham Public School Preschool sign-ups (that is just to be assessed to see if you qualify for preschool). The boys (Jacob & Andrew) started Spring baseball. I did a bit of scrapbooking with my sister-in-law, and just laid low!
April 2013
Baseball kept us busy throughout the week. JD took and PASSED yet another Architectural Registration Exam! We managed to get everyone to a family photo shoot prior to Jeff & Witney and the kids' move to NM at the beginning of the summer. Kudos to the photographer at Portrait Innovations! It took her about 30 min to photograph 10 kids and 6 adults!
