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Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Stumble it!Monday, August 20, 2007
Weddings, Hospitals, Greek Food, and Hurricane Dean
I have been pretty stressed lately but for some Godly reason I have peace today. Thank you Jesus!
My grandmother's surgery didn't happen until today because of the pneumonia. She is allergic to almost all antibiotics so treating the pneumonia was a problem. It was better this morning so she had the pacemaker procedure done around 9 AM and she has been sleeping ever since. Hopefully, they will let her go home tomorrow.
This weekend Ryan and I accomplished quite a bit for the wedding. We bought his ring and the cross chains that will be given to the boys during the ceremony. I will wear my grandmothers silver wedding band. I am so excited about that!! The invitations were done, chairs, tables, and columns were ordered for the big day. His mom is a great landscaper so she went check out the yard and she will be doing some grooming in the next week or so. I am praying for no thunderstorms and lots of cool breezes for September 8th! The columns will be set up like these.
I am also sad because Hurricane Dean is about to pound down on our honeymoon destination. God willing, no one will be hurt and the resort will be up and running again in a few days. If not, I don't know what we will do. Back off Satan... you cannot stop this marriage!!!
On another note, I tried greek food for the first time this weekend. I ordered a Chicken Shawarma Sandwich with fries. It was soooooo good! I actually ate the whole thing!
My short term to do list:
1. Get out of this hospital
2. Mail invitations
3. Bring pic of cake to bakery
4. Finish homeschool plans
5. Mail packages
6. Cancel car insurance
7. TRY TO RELAX!
Friday, August 17, 2007
Tests, Trials, and Faith
There are definitely times when our faith is tested. I know for me this is one of those times….
My wedding is three weeks away and there is a lot to be done. I have had to depend on Ryan to get things done lately because my grandmother is in the hospital with an enlarged heart, irregular heartbeat, and pneumonia. She will have a pacemaker put in on today (Friday morning). We have been in this hospital for four days now. I miss my boys.
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Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Having a rough week....
My grandmother is in the hospital. We are awaiting tests to see what is going on with her. She passed out three times the other night. Please keep her in prayer.
On another note... I lost my email address when I canceled all of my services at my old house. I was told I would be able to keep it but that didn't pan out. So... if anyone sent me an email within the last few days to amygrant@cox.net please send a new one to amico.del.dio (at) gmail (dot) com. I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Winners....
Friday, August 10, 2007
Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder....
So, we close on the sale of my house on Monday. I am completely moved out and my stuff is now at Ryan's where his mom is so generously helping us to get things straightened out. She came down from Iowa and is staying with Ryan until the wedding. I am living with my grandma until the wedding. This has been an adventure.
F0r the first time in years I am being brought back to my childhood. My grandpa was a marine and he ran our house like boot camp. You woke up early, made your bed, cleaned yourself up, had breakfast, and got to work. This is how it was when I was growing up and even though my grandpa is no longer alive, my grandma is continuing on with his ways... she wakes me up every morning to go through the list and I love it! I love the structure. I now know why I was so secure growing up. This has definitely given me something to think about with my own boys who are responding very well to this routine I might add! :o)
The somewhat downside is no cable, no Internet, no DVD player, no game systems, and the cell phone service is very bad. I honestly have enjoyed the free time though. I have gotten the kids lesson plans for next year almost completed, I have spent lots of time with God and reading, helped grandma with numerous chores, working on the wedding, and other stuff. It has been quite freeing.
I have been writing quite a bit though so I will have some great posts to put on my blog very soon. I do miss being able to just check in whenever I want. It is quite the task to get Internet service right now.
I will be drawing a winner for the prizes today and will probably post them on Sunday. I am also mailing out all other prizes from the previous drawing today. I'm sorry for the delay... I just got them out of the boxes! :o)
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Homeschool Bloggy GiveAway # 2 - Bible Curriculum
Jen over at Ancora Imparo is hosting The Homeschool Bloggy Giveaway and it’s going to be a blast! There are a bunch of bloggers that will be GIVING AWAY great stuff this week! Make sure check out the Mr. Linky links to all the sites that are participating.
I will be listing something new everyday so keep checking back and invite your friends to enter. I have up for grabs a new grades 1, 2, and 3 Bible Explorer Curriculum text. In order to win, you must leave a comment telling me your favorite homeschooling tip. That is all!! You must provide a valid e-mail address, but you do not have to have a blog. International participants are welcome.I’ll be collecting comments through until Thursday night at midnight (CST). On Friday, August 10th I’ll hold the drawing and announce the winner! Good luck and thanks for playing!
(If you want to host your own giveaway at your blog, and link up with our fun little carnival, please read through the guidelines HERE .)
Monday, August 6, 2007
Homeschool Bloggy Giveaway #1 - Spanish
Jen over at Ancora Imparo is hosting The Homeschool Bloggy Giveaway and it’s going to be a blast! There are a bunch of bloggers that will be GIVING AWAY great stuff this week! Make sure check out the Mr. Linky links to all the sites that are participating.
I will be listing something new everyday so keep checking back and invite your friends to enter. I have up for grabs a grade 1 Teach Them Spanish text. In order to win, you must leave a comment telling me why you would like to teach your children Spanish. That is all!! You must provide a valid e-mail address, but you do not have to have a blog. International participants are welcome.I’ll be collecting comments through until Thursday night at midnight (CST). On Friday, August 10th I’ll hold the drawing and announce the winner! Good luck and thanks for playing!
(If you want to host your own giveaway at your blog, and link up with our fun little carnival, please read through the guidelines HERE .)
Love Is An Action... My Decision To Homeschool
Randi over at I Have To Say... is hosting "Back To Homeschool Week" on her blog.
This is today's question: What led to your decision to homeschool? Why do you do what you do? What brought you to homeschooling? What factors played a part in your decision?
Wow! I think the better question for me would be "What didn't lead to your decision to homeschool?" LoL!
My children attended a private Christian school until my oldest completed second grade. It was then that the school closed it's doors due to financial problems. I had worked for the ministry and received a discount. Without that luxury I was unable to afford to place them in another private Christian school. So, I made a horrible mistake; I put them in public school.
Academically everything seemed fine to me. Everyone was making good grades. Homework was tedious but we made it through the 2+ hours every night. I met with the teacher and principal so things seemed to be on the up and up. But, sooner or later the ugly truth reveals itself.
My oldest son was nearly suspended for writing a paper about an invention. It was a Bradley that had missiles and M-60s and lots of other weapons. It was bullet and bomb proof. Quite honestly, I thought it was ingenious. His teacher called me in for a meeting and I was told that this was inappropriate behavior. That because he was different he had the potential to fit a profile from a system that they now use. They thought my child was going to go shoot up the school! He comes from a military family. His grandpa taught him all kinds of stuff about the military. His uncle (who has lived with us since Gev was born) served in the Iraq war. The only photos we received of him for over a year were with some type of weapon in his hand. He came home and told us how he wished the trucks were armored because then they wouldn't lose so many brave men. My son was well educated about the army and marines. This was an absurd accusation!
My child was also being teased and taunted. Gevan has a form of dwarfism, is legally blind in one eye, and has no hair, so he obviously doesn't look like the average child. He was called mini me, the midget, baldy, etc. He told the teacher on more than one occasion and would come home crying because of it. I went to talk to the teachers about it and they told me things were fine. The said that no one was picking on Gevan. Why would my child lie?
He wasn't.
My middle child, as melancholy as he is, loves the Lord and is constantly singing a song of praise. He would come home telling me about times when he was singing "Awesome God" and kids would tell him to shut up. His teachers would tell him it was inappropriate. Oh? He was made to read Harry Potter and was allowed to buy Yu-Gi-Oh cards at the school store and I found that inappropriate yet my concerns were brushed aside. He was beaten on the bus by other children on more than one occasion and I witnessed one of them. I yelled for the child to get off of Jacob and what did the bus driver do? She told my child to get off the bus, turned up her rap music louder and yelled, "I will fill out a report" and drove away.
She never did.
My baby. Oh, my sweet little baby boy. He came home every day with bad marks in conduct. He was written up on a few occasions. I would call and go to the school and was told that my child simply had a behavior problem and that he was a follower and did whatever other kids did. Let's review the reports: 1. Showed private parts in bathroom. 2. Hit a child in the private parts. 3. Told teacher to "Shut up". I might add that these are the things he was sent to clinic for. There were other write ups but let's just focus on these.
The private parts showing happened after (insert child's name here) showed his and told Brennan and some other kids to do the same (5 kids in all). I met with the principal and the teacher and was told to not worry about it and that this was normal behavior but they all had to be written up for it. Normal? I don't think so. And where was the teacher in the time it took 5 of them to do this?
The hitting a child in the private parts was another issue that I went to meet with the principal about. They told me that the other child skipped my son in line and Brennan asked him to move. He said no and pushed Brennan. Brennan pushed back. The boy, who is twice Brennan's size, knocked him to the ground and began to hit on him. According to teachers, Brennan swung to protect himself and well, the only place he could reach was the legs and private parts. The other child's mother was there at the meeting too. She said, in front of me, that the "stupid lil boy shoulda just left it alone" and that "he deserved to get his (bad word here) beat." What? I almost lost it right there! Thank God His spirit was stronger than my desire to go off on this woman. And we don't say "shut up" in my house either. My child is no angel but he never exhibited any of this behavior before. Was something else causing it?
Yes, someone was.
Gevan wasn't lying. They even had him in social counseling once a week. He also couldn't add or subtract, he didn't know place value, he couldn't look up words in the dictionary, and he didn't read on his grade level. He is less than 3 foot tall and blind in one eye yet he wasn't in the front of the classroom because they didn't want to show him preferential treatment. Huh?! And why were they telling me things were fine when they weren't? How was he passing? Jacob continued to come home with straight As, bloody noses, and black eyes. Brennan's teacher was fired for wearing pajamas to school, not disciplining the children, for allowing them to say shucks and frick