House Update!

I haven't posted much about everyday life lately, but its not due to lack of material :)  Hang around here long enough and you will see we really do live in a people zoo.  Just when I figured out how to raise a bunch of little kids they went and started to grow up so now we are in new territory with older kids!  One is getting ready to get her permit and looking at colleges, one's voice is starting to change so that sometimes I think I hear my husband talking only to find my son, some are wearing capri's that were bought originally as pants, and I lugged my "baby" up in the air only to find a 6 1/2 year old is pretty heavy...........I have to say I am enjoying most of it!  I can't say I wouldn't love some other little ones that are in their footy pjs snuggled up in my lap, but the older years bring more conversations and opportunities to experience new things with them.  AJ is the most patient older brother, he plays this game on the computer that Zeke loves to watch and Zeke hangs on him and talks incessantly the whole time and AJ laughs and goofs with him, never tells him to go away (which is a common theme around here when little brothers are hanging around!)   Alex just started reading the first the 39 Clues books to Caley, Riley and JD.  They hang on her every word! Zeke thought it might give him nightmares so he instead likes to listen to his favorite "cd" which is actually our keyboard playing the demo songs over and over and on DJ mode which is even nicer.......  Hannah is going through a stage of singing and dancing in her mirror not realizing the whole house can hear.  My favorite activity is to slowly open the door and jam out in the hallway to her music until she finally turns around notices and jumps!  Caley is my reader, we have probably 100000000000 books, i have a problem.... but regardless and today we went through to find her something to read and it sounded like this..."read that, read that, read that, read that, read that twice" finally we settled on a Nancy Drew that was tucked back.  JD is fascinated by facts, like totally random facts that he thinks we may possibly just happen to know, a snippet, "Mom is Houston bigger then Dallas in size or just in population?"  usually while I am in the middle of cooking some meal.  We let him use the atlas book we have, but its already falling apart from use, yet the crazy part is he hasn't yet mastered which is the top of a lined piece of paper! :)  Riley has been working on writing letters in school and so today she mailed her letter that she wrote, envelope, stamp and all by herself.  She was quite proud to bring it to the mailbox and put up the flag, then we had to chase some random plastic bags around the lawn that came in the wind.  Zeke is so excited he can now write all his letters, so he is constantly writing letters and saying, "mom what does that spell?"  So as to not lose my mind from saying it says "zwekdienhigh" We are now working on learning to read.  As I typed this I have had 3 children reading books around me stopping to tell me everything that's"funny" in them, one child go for a walk but had to come in and announce a bathroom trip and then come in again to announce they changed their mind, another child singing a song over and over while an older sibling is saying says ...stop.....stop.....stop....stop and one who has her headphones in while doing some school work.  We just finished some homemade chocolate chip cookies well 6 kids and 2 adults did, one who hates chocolate chips had a bowl of Kix....  So that is a peek into my door......  Wouldn't change it for a thing!

Adoption update: We have our I800 approval now waiting on the Article 5 and court date in Bulgaria, after that we can get ready to pick up Rosie!

Authentic

God has been using homeschooling to teach me about life :) Our church is currently doing a sermon series on being an authentic Christian. Many times we do "religious" things rote without an authenticity, more of a check box mentality and miss what a relationship with Christ really entails.  We are meant to live out our Christianity.  Anyway getting to what this has to do with homeschooling.  Zeke is my free spirit child, he isn't one to sit down and focus on much unless it involves, dirt, bugs or monster trucks.  So attempting to have him sit and learn something in Kindergarten this year was a challenging thought.  He is a wiggly boy, he would much rather hop to his destination then walk or better yet run at full speed.  I love every bit of that, he is everything every little boy has inside.  However learning to write letters takes time, stillness and concentration when you are 6 years old.....are you seeing where this is going..... He has never had any school outside homeschool, he will be the only one.  So "school" to him is just part of life.  Speeding up now to the other day, I walk into the kitchen and there is little boy standing at the counter with a book sitting in front of him and he is copying all the words onto a piece of paper with a pen I had left sitting there.  He is carefully copying each letter neatly.  He showed me so proud what he was doing and I got all excited.  It seems silly, but I was so excited because he was authentically on his own practicing what he had learned, he could have chosen a million other things to do but he was so excited at what he was able to do he chose to do that on his own.  See many school things my kids do are because they have to, or they are expected too.  But nothing makes my teacher heart more excited then when the authentic stuff happens, the classic book they choose to read because it looks good, the excitement when they learn to read better and can move to the new section of the library with the bigger books, the educational video game that they rush to play, the letters they copy from a book proudly.  The teacher in me beams because 1 they are really learning and growing and 2 they still find it fun and exciting.  That's the good part, the bad part is the school day where the book is being read with a pout because they "have" to read for schoolwork, the sigh when they realize that its 25 math problems, the sloppy handwriting because it was done in a rush to just get it done.  Its draining to the one trying to teach, you realize its not all going to be fun, but it makes for a long day even when it all gets done.  So what this has to do with God....how many times am I guilty of "doing" the prayer time, bible study, church service with the "have" to attitude and not the authentic joy in the fact that I am learning, growing and changing.  How often do I lose the perspective on how far God's teaching has brought me from where I once was, that every lesson and experience from God brings me to a better understanding of life and who God is.  No wonder God tells us come to him as children, that excitement a child has when they can do something they couldn't do before is contagious, we all jump around and act silly for that child.  I need to wake up as a Christian, I have to get people jumping around me when they see the excitement I have from God revealing himself.  I want God to catch me practicing what he taught authentically in my life.