Through the Calm and Through the Storm: blogging through the alphabet

Showing posts with label blogging through the alphabet. Show all posts

Sunday, October 12, 2014

X is for Exhausted {Years Ago}

Every week, Lauren likes to ask me what my next years ago story for my blog is going to be. This week Addison was standing nearby when I said that "exhausted" was the best idea I had for the letter X. I had even picked out a few sleepy pictures of Brennan to share:

She said that I had absolutely had to tell the story of the church talent show in Virginia.

It was our first year living in Northern Virginia, and our church had a church-wide talent show in early December. I was sitting alone with Addison and Brennan because Tim was singing in one of the group numbers. Addison was 8, Brennan was nearly 5, and I was about six months pregnant with Lauren.

As the performances stretched on and the night grew later, Brennan stretched out on the pew beside me and fell asleep. The entire church grew quiet as a performer started playing on the harp. It was beautiful.

And then . . . Brennan started snoring. Not a little snore. A snore to put many grown-ups to shame. (The same snore that led to his tonsils being removed about a month later.) He was so loud that I'm certain half of our very large auditorium could hear him. I tried to wiggle him around so that he would stop, but nothing worked.

Thankfully the harp solo eventually ended and his snores were less noticeable during the rest of the performances. Brennan doesn't snore anymore, but there may always be pictures to share of him falling asleep nearly anywhere.

I'm sharing a "years ago" story (or stories) corresponding to each letter of the alphabet for the Blogging through the Alphabet challenge hosted by Marcy at Ben and Me. I often tell my children stories of things that have happened in our past, and now I'm taking the time to write down those treasured stories.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Zzzz . . . the day I decided I could sleep in a little

It's been a crazy few weeks. It hasn't been any major, just a lot of little things that have added up to early mornings, busy days, and late nights.

Finally I realized that I had to get some rest. I was already battling allergies and an ear infection, and I knew I would just end up sicker if I didn't slow down.

I sent this text to my running buddies to explain why I wouldn't be dragging myself out of bed the next morning:

I'm normally pretty strict about getting up fairly early, getting breakfast, and starting school. My fear is that a late start to our day will mean that we won't get anything done and we'll fall behind in our school schedule. I knew I couldn't get pushing on at the pace I was going. Even if it meant taking a day off of school, I had to slow down to catch my breath.

You know what happened when I decided to sleep in a little? Nothing.

I got an extra three hours of sleep and woke up feeling more refreshed than I had in weeks. I took a shower, fixed breakfast for Lauren, and started school with her a few hours later than normal. We still managed to do all of the most important schoolwork for the day. If I remember correctly, we even squeezed in some quiet reading time that afternoon. We didn't get behind in our schoolwork, and we won't be doing assignments in late June just because I slept late one day in March.

As a homeschool mom, I sometimes think that I can't afford to take a break. I learned that it isn't the end of the world to turn off my alarm clock and slow down a little.

Zzzz is for sleeping in when I needed rest. Z also means that I've successfully completed another round of Blogging through the Alphabet with Marcy at Ben and Me.

Another round of Blogging through the Alphabet will start in a few weeks. This time I'm going to be sharing a "Years Ago" stories to go with each letter.

Saturday, March 29, 2014

A "Years Ago" Math Story

I was talking to a friend last night who mentioned how much she liked reading my blog. In particular, she said she enjoyed reading the stories I shared about our family.

I often tell my kids a story by staring, "Years ago . . ." Unfortunately, I rarely write down those stories so that they'll be remembered.

I'm going to try to do a better job of recording those "Years Ago" stories, and I'm starting with a math story today.

Years ago, Addison was doing a great job with math, and then all of a sudden she wasn't. A friend suggested that I try Math-U-See. In fact, she went one step further than suggesting that I try it -- she loaned me the videos and an unused test booklet for Math-U-See Beta.

Over that summer Addison watched the videos, took a test for each lesson, and math finally clicked again.

When I ordered school materials for her third grade year, I ordered teacher's manuals, workbooks, and our own set of Math-U-See blocks. Before long, Addison was doing great at math again, and Brennan was enjoying new building toys.

Years passed, and Math-U-See has always been part of our homeschool days. Out kids have watched videos with Mr. Demme, built problems out of blocks, and completed lots of practice worksheets over the years. Most importantly, they've developed a true understanding of math concepts.

Sadly, Addison's time with Math-U-See is nearing an end. She's about halfway through Calculus, and there's not a more advanced Math-U-See level for her to move on to.

Thankfully, I still have two students who will use the Math-U-See materials I've collected, and I'll still hear Mr. Demme on the DVDs explaining complex math concepts using our beloved set of colorful blocks.

Who knew that a friend's suggestion all those years ago would become such a big part of our homeschool days?

Y is for Years Ago -- a perfect way to start a story and share a little something that I've hidden in my heart, but haven't ever written down.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

X = High School Math

When Addison was in first grade and we started homeschooling, people sometimes asked, "What will you do when it comes to high school math and science? There's no way I could teach that." I responded that I was once a math major, and I really wasn't that worried about classes that were still eight or ten years away.

Perhaps I underestimated what I'd forget in the fifteen years between my college calculus classes and my little girl growing up to be a high schooler.

Thankfully I still remember a lot of algebra. I need it both to help Brennan with his Algebra I homework and to figure out if Addison's calculus answers are correct.

It's been a long time since I sat in college calculus classes. Even though I cannot figure out the problems myself any more, I can still look at the solutions in the teacher's manual and do the algebraic manipulations to determine if the answers on Addison's assignment matches the one given in the answer key. Sometimes I can even figure out where she made a mistake in her calculations.

Grading her papers is only part of the equation, though. Sometimes she has higher-level mathematics questions that either I can't answer or that I can't find the time to figure out. Thankfully, God placed people in our lives that are gifted in mathematics.

We attend a small church, but it has a lot of smart people. When I don't know the answer, I tell her to find one of the engineers to see if they know the answer. Addison sat with two of the men in our small group this evening discussing the idea of graphing imaginary numbers. Sometimes I think they enjoy her questions.

On a recent youth group trip, she found out that the volunteer youth minister at another local church teaches college math. A few weeks ago, I told Addison just to email someone for help when she started talking about higher level math concepts that I just can't remember any more.

Addison thinks she'll continue calculus next year, perhaps trying to take the AP Calculus B/C exam next Spring. I'm thankful that she'll have friends to turn to along the way. I'm even more thankful that she's not solely relying on me to teach math anymore.

When faced with this week's blogging through the alphabet idea of X equals something, I couldn't help but think of all the algebra equations I've worked this past week. So X = High School Math in my book.

Monday, March 10, 2014

Winners vs. Losers

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Our Village

I've often heard it said, "It takes a village to raise a child," even though I haven't read the book Hillary Clinton wrote with that title.

I'm thankful that I've found a village where we are living now.

I'm thankful that we all gathered around a bonfire tonight to sing and roast marshmallows.

I'm thankful that any one of us will take a cookie away from the toddler who tried to sneak it off the platter when his mom wasn't looking.

I'm thankful for friends that text with offers to bring dinner when I was at the hospital with Brennan a month or so ago.

I'm thankful for early morning runs and for friends that understand that stressful days often mean a much faster pace.

I'm thankful that Brennan has friends in the neighborhood to go mountain biking with or just hang out with.

I'm thankful that Lauren has friends within walking distance, too.

I'm thankful that when Lauren broke her arm at a Super Bowl party that I could take her to the ER knowing that my other two kids would be taken care of. (Rumor has it that there was even a bit of an argument about which house they would get to spend the night at.)

I'm thankful for friends that pray for each other and our families.

But most of all, I'm thankful that I'm not having to face anything alone. It's always easier to stand strong with a friend (or a whole village) standing beside you.

Even though my village of friends is #1 in my heart, I saved them for V week in our Blogging Through the Alphabet challenge.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Beauty Uncaptured

I enjoy carrying around my camera so that I can take pictures of things I find beautiful each day. Unfortunately, I'm not always able to capture the beauty that I see.

Over the past few weeks, I've had many moments that I wished I could capture with a photograph, but couldn't. Sometimes I didn't have my good camera with me. Sometimes I knew that I didn't have the technical skills (or a fancy enough camera) to capture what I was seeing. And sometimes, I knew that it would be better just to appreciate the beauty rather than trying to fiddle with the camera long enough to get a good picture.

My list of things that I didn't take a picture of, my Beauty Uncaptured:

- the wisps of clouds rising from the tops of several mountains on the west side of town this morning. It almost looked as if the city was surrounded by smoldering volcanos.

- the sliver of a moon that shone while we were running early one morning

- the snow capped mountains this afternoon. I can take pictures of the mountains, but I'll never be able to capture their glory and majesty.

- texts of encouraging words from friends who care

- the huge American flag that I pass by several times a week. I can take a beautiful picture of it (with mountains in the background), but I can't accurately captured the size and beauty of it on a sunny day.

- flowers that I've rushed past because Lauren was in a hurry to get where we were going

- the stars shining against a clear, black sky

- the sunset views that never seem quite right when I take a picture

- the lights of the city twinkling below when I'm in driving in the foothills of the mountains

- a helicopter I saw landing on base the other day (or the C130 that followed shortly afterwards)

Sometimes the Beauty Uncaptured moments are even more beautiful than the ones I'm able to capture with my camera. And since Uncaptured starts with U, it counts as my Blogging through the Alphabet post for this week.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Ten Things to Do in a Few Spare Minutes (the kitchen version)

I've come to realize that this isn't a season of my life where I can set aside large blocks of time for house keeping. My best chance at being able to keep our house looking presentable (and perhaps even looking nice) is to take advantage of small chunks of time that I can find in the midst of our schedules.

I often find myself with five or even ten minutes to spare before I need to leave for an appointment or while I'm waiting for Lauren to finish taking her medicines. Instead of just wasting that time by hopping on the computer, I've started finding little tasks that can go a long ways towards keeping the kitchen clean.

1. Wipe off the counters, the inside of the microwave, or the front of one of the appliances

2. Take out the recycling, even if the bin isn't full yet

3. Take the used towels, cloth napkins, and dishrags up to the laundry room

4. Rinse out medicine syringes

5. Put away the dishes that were sitting out beside the sink to dry

6. See if there's ten things in the junk drawer that could be thrown away (or put back where they belong)

7. Make sure there's enough iced tea in the refrigerator to last through dinner

8. Put water and coffee into the coffee maker so that it'll be ready to go in the morning

9. Sweep the floors

10. Add meal ideas to the planner or grocery requests to the list

Monday, February 10, 2014

Strong Enough {Weekly Word of Encouragement}

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Beauty Recaptured

I posted Beauty Captured pictures all while I recovered from kidney surgery. I've taken pictures on crazy days -- the ones filled with too many appointments and far too little time. I remembered to post a snapshot of something beautiful for 168 straight days.

A few weeks ago, I didn't post anything. I had a really rough day. I took a few pictures that afternoon, but I didn't post any that night.

The next day, I didn't pick up the camera at all. In fact, I didn't pick up my camera for several days. I was distracted and upset and a whole bunch of other things. I didn't feel like taking pictures.

And then one day a friend brought me a gorgeous bunch of flowers. My big kids put them in a vase, and I took a picture.

I needed a reminder to look for the beauty around me.

The past few days haven't necessarily been easy, but I've remembered to look for beauty in the midst of the trying days.

I let my Beauty Captured posts fall by the wayside far too long. Over the next few days, I'll be posting a few catch-up pictures. I don't have a picture for every day, but I'm going to celebrate the beauty that I did capture.

R is for Recaptured

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Q-Bitz {Family Game Night}

Last month, I shared about how our family enjoyed playing Rummikub over our Christmas break. One of the other games we played a lot was Q-bitz.

Each person gets a wooden game board and sixteen colored dice. The competition comes when players race to recreate the design on the challenge card.

For one of the rounds, players simple copy the pattern. The hardest round gave us a short amount of time to study the design, and then we tried to replicate it without looking at the card.

With a few minor time adaptations, this game was a good challenge for all of us. I do well when it comes to the speed rounds, but the kids have the advantage in the memory round.

Q-Bitz gets lots of thumbs up from our family because it's fun! The teacher part of me is tempted to count our games as schoolwork because it works on visual discrimination, spatial skills, patterns, memory, and more.

My friend Erica at "Be the One" is hosts a monthly Family Game Night link-up, and I'll add Q-Bitz to the list of favorites. Q-Bitz also starts with Q -- Blogging Through the Alphabet with Marcy at Ben and Me.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Procedures, Peace, and Prayers

A week ago Thursday my Facebook status read:

For years God has given me peace as we sent Lauren into surgeries/procedures. Today I have peace beyond understanding as I check in to have my kidney repaired. GIGATTAATTGIG!

I've never been able to understand or explain the incredible sense of peace that God has gifted me with throughout all of Lauren's many surgeries and procedures. It truly is "the peace of God which transcends all understanding" as Paul writes in Philippians 4:7 (NIV).

I'm thankful that God offered that same peace when I was faced with my own surgery.

I'm also deeply thankful for all of our friends and family that prayed for Lauren so many times and also prayed for me last week.

I'm not quite back up to 100% yet, but I'm getting close. In another few weeks, I'll have my sugeon's permission to go back to running.

God is good all the time, and all the time God is good!

Procedures, Peace, and Prayers

Sunday, January 19, 2014

One More Time

I'm sure most parents can remember a story or two that they read so many times that they can still remember most of the words. For my children, it was Sandra Boynton's Moo, Baa, La, La, La. There were times in the car that I was thankful I had memorized the book cover to cover because I could continue to "read" no matter what the traffic looked like.

Moo, Baa, La, La, La, Spring 2007

When the kids were still in the stage of wanting to hear favorites over and over, I remember reading an article that put all of this reading into perspective. As adults, we often choose to listen to our favorite songs or watch our favorite movies over and over. Thankfully nobody complains too loudly when I play my favorite CD, even though I may have heard it just the other day.

It's been several years since we've had picture books on repeat at our house. Just this week, though, Lauren begged me to read the Lily Lapp books "just one more time." We read through the fourth (and final) book in the series after she received it for Christmas. I guess she was sad to see the stories come to an end because she wants to start back at the beginning.

Life with Lily, Summer 2013

I had other books set aside that were going to be next on our read-aloud list. Instead, we'll continue to enjoy Lily's antics on her Amish farm in Pennsylvania. I've already found parts of the story that I don't really remember from the first time we read the books. It's comforting to spend our reading time with familiar characters that we've grown to love -- kind of like listening to the playlist with all my favorite songs.

O is for One More Time

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Accepting means learning to say "No"

I posted a few weeks ago that my word for 2014 is "Accepting" and that I was going to start accepting the fact that I cannot do everything that I wish I could this.

Lauren's 8th birthday is on Tuesday. Tonight we took a birthday cake to our church small group gathering.

Lauren has chorus rehearsal practice tomorrow night, and she asked months ago if I'd bake cookies for her to share at rehearsal. It's a bit extra-special for her because her food allergies means she never gets to eat any of the cookies other girls bring. Since they are the Ladybugs, I'm decorating thirty-something ladybug cookies tonight.

A few days ago, it dawned on Lauren that she would have cake on Sunday, cookies on Monday, but no special birthday treat on her actual birthday. She requested cupcakes. Normally, I would've figured out a way to make a batch of allergy-friendly cupcakes, even if it meant staying up late. Instead I decided to explain how two special treats in one weekend was plenty. I said, "No."

Two large baking projects in one weekend is my limit. Accepting my own limits means that I just cannot find time tomorrow to make (and decorate) a batch of cupcakes.

It's a baby step, but it's a step closer to accepting that I don't have to be everything to everybody.

N is for No

Another baby step this week was realizing that my blog wasn't suddenly going to self-destruct if I got a day (or two) behind on my Beauty Captured photos. They'll be coming soon.

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Saturday, January 4, 2014

Music makes it easier

When I was first diagnosed with diabetes, I didn't mind taking insulin shots, especially since those needles are tiny.

When I got my insulin pump, I didn't really mind the larger needle used for inserting the cannula, especially since I only had to change it every three days.

Inserting my continuous glucose sensor, however, bothers me a lot. It's probably not the needle as much as it is the spring loaded insertion device used with it. Whatever the reason, it seemed like it would take me forever to get up enough nerve to hit the insert button.

One day I read a short blurb in a magazine about how patients reported less pain when they were listening to music during injections.

It was worth a shot . . . (pun intended)

You know what? It works. In fact, it works even better than I thought it would.

Yesterday morning I cranked up the volume on my iPhone and started singing along with Mandisa while I pushed the insertion button with hardly any hesitation at all.

Sometimes it's the little things that make a big difference. In my case, music makes taking care of my diabetes a whole lot easier.

M is for Music!

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Looking Back at 2013

As 2013 winds down to a close, I'm taking a look back at a year full of happy memories. I gathered a favorite post from each month this year. You'll find family adventures, homeschool tips, at least one recipe, and much more.

I hope you enjoy looking back at the year with me.

January:

Rides, Roller Coasters, and Radiant Colors (our trip to Disneyland)

February:

Winner Cleans Up!

March:

Homeschooling on the Crazy Days

April:

Our Family's Best Books Awards

May:

Sticky Roasted Chicken for Mother's Day

June:

When I turned my computer OFF

July:

A military-wife's dilemma

August:

What will I wear? My 33~33 Clothing Challenge

September:

When I searched for beauty

October:

Christmas in October

November:

This Year's Favorite Crew Review Items

December:

Holidays with the American Girls

Even while I'm looking back at pictures and posts from 2013, I'm looking forward to a wonderful 2014!

L is for Looking Back!