summer fun photos

As I sit here freezing, I am loving looking at these pictures from July and remembering how bloomin' hot it was!!! I remember sitting in the scant shade w/ a glass of iced tea (sweet of course), watching the boys run thru the sprinkler and laughing! Man they had a blast. Who says you need an inground pool and 40 strangers to have fun??!! Ha!
Julie

Photos from this month

These pictures are from a visit from family from far away. There's Carter and Roger being goofy and my cousin's daughter and her newish baby and husband. They were visiting from...Missouri? maybe? Ha. Oh, see Branche hiding? ha. I'm going to be posting some pictures that never have been seen before. Ha. Keep your eyes open! J

OH MAN!!!

Okay, so Rob is searching for his first church to pastor, right? Well, he has sent out like 15 resume/letters, and emailed several to churches we believe to be without a pastor. Well, last night we got home from AWANAS and he had an email from one we're very interested in. They want his doctrinal statement, his testimony, any other info he wants to share about himself and they want a recent sermon on DVD. Oh dear, gee, he doesn't have a church....HA! I called our pastor to let him know and he's gonna work it out. LOL! He said, "Tell Rob, start writing that sermon, I'll figure out the rest!!" HA. Well, needless to say, I'm excited. This is our (his) first response. I know it's a sort of form letter, but it is a form letter for people they're interested in! Not ones they want to blow off! HA! PRAY PRAY PRAY for us in this!!! Rob is so unhappy at Food-dog and he knows he's not where he should be! We need a church. He's ready, I'm ready. I pray all the time about this...in fact, last night I fell asleep mid-prayer and woke up starting a new one! It's a cute church in VA not too far from our parents, but far enough to give us space, independence and all that. Please join us in prayer asking for clarity, support in this process and a church! LOL!
Well, today I have three kids that don't belong to me! I'm sitting for a fellow homeschooling friend while she takes a test for college. We're having fun. We've been so productive today! My kids have actually been more attentive than usual. We're eating lunch and are gonna go to the park in a little while. I snuck up here to type while they're eating! It's fun having six kids! I felt like the little lady in the lunch room at public school dishing out food...course it's much better, yummier food!
RIght now I'm reading a couple books. Two for a class I'm taking (Church Ministry) and one for myself. One for class is called Fool's Gold by John MacArthur. It's good so far! He was talking about discrimination and how it's not a bad word! Currently it is used mostly in reference to race and equality stuff. Well, it's true meaning is "to make a disticntion". God calls us to do this everyday! We have to make a distinction between right and wrong, truth and lies, good and bad. This is known also as discernment. 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 says "test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil." This is a job that Christians must do daily and as parents (especially homeschooling ones), we have to figure out how to teach our children how to do it also. We must know the truth and proclaim it. We can accomplish this through study of GOd's word. The only way we can know if doctrine is sound is by self-study of the Word of God and prayer.
We cannot ask our kids to be satisfied with "because I said so" when told not to do something. This idea of discriminating and discernment is an important one we can use when explaining to our kids why somethings are not allowed. Macarthur tells us that in Titus 1:9 the Bible tells us that we shouldn't spend time studying error, we should shun it! In other words it's not necessary to know everything about witches and what they do to bring them the word of God. We don't have to study the Quran to argue against it or to bring the Love of God to Muslims. "Study truth. Hold fast the faithful Word. Then you will be able to both exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict."(Macarthur p. 32).
Well, it's too quiet downstairs...gotta go!
Julie

Oh man, what a week

Well, my grandad was born Jan. 29, 1908. Hard to believe I still have the pleasure of seeing him here on earth. We just attended his 100th birthday party yesterday. What an exciting day. My grandma was there too, she's just 94 though, a comparative youngster...right?! ;) Well, I've really been having a banner day or so. Let me see....I got lost in what I was doing yesterday, so I was running like an hour and a half late for the birthday party, as I scooted through town I apparantly snagged the attention of a policeman and was treated to my first speeding ticket in ...oh, I don't know maybe 15 yrs???!! AAAARGH! Then, when I got home and took my key out of the truck's ignition, it kept making this weird ticking sound and wouldn't start or do anything when I put the key in.....of course when Rob got home it started right up, no problem, no ticking. Oh....let's see...it did work for church this a.m. which was good. Oh, while doing the dishes after dinner? A I managed to catch a landslide of dishes before they hit the floor and while I was inwardly rejoicing about this, a coffee cup fell out of the upper cabinet and SMASHED into my coffee pot (full of hot coffee, naturally) which is now in about 1000 pieces in the trash! AAARRRRGGHHH! LOL! I must be crazy, because I'm laughing while I type this!!! I'm a little afraid to leave the house anytime soon....who knows what may happen next!!! That's okay, though, I figure if the devil's working so hard to attack me/us, then we must be doing something right!!! Just to prove myself right, (har har har) church was AWESOME today! Everyone was seemingly just so joyful and happy to be there. A new couple joined the church, and second new couple attended for about the 3rd week in a row and even felt comfortable to join in Sunday School discussion. Man, the music was great (even if it was me playing, right?!) The choir was in wonderful voice...just an all around wonderful, joyful, spiritual day. It sure made all the rest easier to handle. I don't think I even raised my voice (except in praise to the Lord) today!! Wow. I just don't know how a non-Chrisitian can get through it. It must be so difficult. At least I know there's more than just the here and now, and no matter how bad things get, or how many stupid, petty things happen, Jesus loves me!!! He'll catch me. One of my current favorite songs is "Who am I?" It really touches me. Some of the lyrics go something like, "You hear me when I'm calling, you catch me when I'm falling...who am I? " It's not new, so I'm sure you all know the song I'm misquoting, but I love it. It points up our tinyness in this vast creation, yet He loves us! He hears us, like the best of Fathers, He catches us every time.
ya'll have a blessed evening tonite and day tomorrow!
Julie

Response to comment....

Someone asked if I was worried about my boys breaking stuff in my new cabinet!!! LOL! Uh, lemme think....YES!!! BUT, the only thing that may save it all, is the fact that they hardly ever go in the dining room. Well, I mean they occasionally eat there...but at the other end of the hugely long table and if I catch them running they're in big fat ugly trouble...so, "so far so good"! Things do occasionally get "accidentally" thrown, as you put it, then I just accidentally spank people. LOL! :)

Time off

I must say, it's nice to have a few hours sort of "off". My Mom and Dad took the two oldest this evening to spend the night and go to the movies tomorrow. It's really interesting (and strangely easy!!!) to only have one little 4 year old! I hardly know how to act! I have actually completed a couple thoughts tonight! Strange! They're going to see "Water Horse" tomorrow. I'm sorta jealous, I wouldn't mind seeing that one myself. Carter's pretty sure it's a pleiosaur or whatever that dino's name is, so he's pretty excited.
My grandad is turning 100 years old on Jan. 29. It's pretty exciting. He's doing very well (considering his age), in fact I've seen much younger doing worse! The family is having a party for him on the 26th, so it should be a huge big deal. We've got family coming in from all over. Some are coming early due to work scheduals so we should get to visit with my cousin's kid and her husband and new baby tomorrow. I am excited to see the baby!!! I LOVE babies!! They smell so nice (sometimes!).
We had a big day visiting with a fellow homeschool family in the area. Nine kids all in one house. It was an exciting time to be sure! The baby figured out how to move the back of the toilet and flush to get a really cool geyser going. Exciting for all involved! it's one way to mop your floor I'd never thought of! LOL!
Who said downloading music was easy?? Because it's NOT! Nothing on-line is easy anymore. UGh! We had a rather frustrating time today working that out, but finally did! They want a preponderous amount of info that is seemingly unneccessary!!!
We're sort of in the planning stages of a homeschool group to serve the needs WE want it to serve...there's only one other around that we've found, and it's not what we want. So, we are gonna set up a twice monthly group to do stuff like, occasional field trips, science experiments, energy-burning outdoor games...you name it. We're excited. Just our two families are nine kids! One more big family and it's almost too much! LOL! Oh well, we're loving our experiences homeschooling. We both use Sonlight and LOVE it. Our kids can't seem to read enough. We've both recently denuded the library book sale of anything worth-while. Lovin' it!
Can't wait for the supposed winter-storm this weekend! Can you tell I live in southern VA? Yea snow!!!
Julie

One of those days...

Well, I'm sorry to say that today was "one of those days". The boys were totally uncontrollable. I spanked, I sent people to their rooms multiple times, and still, no relief. I was so glad when Rob came home I just wanted to cry. Now, two of them are sitting on my bed watching cartoons and slowly but surely shoving all my covers on the floor. Man, it's great to be a Mom. I'm tired, I'm frustrated and we got very little done school-wise today. Branche did alright, but complained about every single assignment and could think of nothing better to do than beg me to cut something out. Man, I get tired of that! Would you ever think to beg a teacher to not make you do an assignment??? Puh-leeeze!!!! When he does that, it just makes me want to give him extra assignments (which of course is Rob's suggestion). I just don't think it would be beneficial to make him scream louder and longer...nothing is gonna get done. I did make him complete what I had originally given him. The two littles were just not interested in school today in the least. They did let me read to them some, so at least that happened, but no handwriting (which is so important for Carter), and no workbooks at all. Ugh. Life surely does go on!!
Well, my Dad did finish my corner cabinet and I intended to post a photo sooner, but our one computer is always in great demand, so I'll try this time. It is absolutely beautiful and I spend at least a minute or two studying it every day. Ha. The first two days or so, I was continually rearranging stuff in it. I still don't think it's right, but Mom'll have to come tell me how to do right! HA! Okay, photos: Dad standing proudly by his creation, the cabinet in my diningroom empty, and a closeup of it full of stuff...which I have since rearranged. ha.
That's it for now!
Someone's screamin' for cheese-dogs.
Julie

Pictures

Okay, I'm gonna give posting pictures a shot. One will be my corner cabinet still in the process of being built and laying in the garage floor. One will be Branche and his friend Richard jumping and flipping on Richard's trampoline. Yes, Momma had a slight heart attack but managed to snap the pictures anyway. Richard is the upside down one, Branche is standing there watching. The other upside down one is Branche and Richard is sitting down watching. Ha. Just a typical Saturday around the Blake house! Well, Rob got moved from one store to another. He's a store manager for Food Lion. He was at the Courtland Food Lion about 12 minutes from home, loves everyone...in about a week or so he'll be in Murfreesboro North Carolina about 15 minutes from home but he doesn't want to leave all his well-trained employees and start over!!! oh well! such is life and I told him he just needed to remember FL is not forever and soon enough we'll have a church and NO Food Lion!!! YEA! Just one of those "who moved my cheese" moments for him I guess.

Hey all! Well, I hate WalMart. It's no fun with 3 kids in tow. Not at all. I mean, those kids were everywhere. I had to spank Roger twice because he kept diving in front of other shoppers and nearly gave a few slight heart attacks! I was so embarrassed! I saw a friend of mine and tried to speak for a minute or two as we never see each other and within two minutes, I had two out of three kids crying. Not just whimpering, out and out bawling. I'm sure you could hear them in hardware and we were in the food section. I got the old stink-eye several times from people who obviously never had kids! Or maybe they just had those ones that are perfectly silent and trot obediently behind their parents tipping their hats at passers-by. Well, mine are the opposite of those kids! Mine scream, yell, pee their pants, whatever will cause the most disruption at the time. They seem to enjoy it. And yes, I do discipline. yes, I'm consistent, but hey, at least they get points for persistence! Oh well, just sharing our wonderful outing!
J

Finally...

Well, it sure has taken me awhile to get back on here a post again. Being a homeschool family of 5 does take time! My father is currently building a corner cabinet for me (my Christmas present). He's building it here, so having Papa here on a regular basis is making concentration on school hard for the boys! But, despite that, we've actually had one of our most productive weeks in a long time school-wise! My back is very painful, so bending over is like not gonna happen--but I am even doing a fair job keeping up with laundry this week. The new washer and dryer have made a world of difference in my work load. It's shocking what a difference it's made. Not having to wait two days for each load to dry on the line...being able to do half as many loads because the machine is so huge...it's great!!! I highly recommend the Whirlpool (top-loading not front load) Cabrio for anyone who has lots of laundry (big families!). We got the washer and dryer and they are AWESOME!! I used to have to do a load every single day without fail to not get behind, but the problem was, with no dryer the clothes weren't always dry in time (once the weather was cold or if it rained). Now, I can do like 2 or three loads a week and be done! It's truly amazing! Anyway, as some of you may be aware, we are in the process of filling out our formal application for adopting a kid (or kids) from Ukraine. Our initial application was approved, we went to the orientation/info meeting and now the hard work begins! this application requires much introspection, self-evaluation etc. so it is really taking some time to accomplish. Keep us in your prayers in that respect. Also, Rob has started searching for a church. He graduates this spring with a BS in religion from Liberty University, will continue his education there by pursuing a master's degree, but he (we) feel that now is the time to begin the search. We're ready to roll. Prayers also requested for that!!!
The hoards are awaking and are apparently starving...must go! J

First Ever Post

Hello to everyone who is not reading this post!! HA! I am not sure why I decided a blog would be a good idea, but I enjoy reading some and it seems fun. By way of more specific introduction, my name is Julie. I am a very busy mother of three boys whom we home-school. We do this for lots of reasons, one of them being that the public schools don't teach what kids need to know! We are a Christian family and teach our boys (hopefully) to love and serve the Lord. I am not perfect, not always good at my jobs of teaching, cleaning and caring for my family, but hey, I AM human and do love my family and the jobs I've been given! I've read some blogs of other Home-schoolers and know a few, and some seem so together...or at least give that impression. I'm here to say, that you don't have to have it "all together" to do it, or succeed at hsing! We don't run a business in our spare time, or feed an entire third world nation by selling handmade kadiddle-floopers, or anything else particularly extraordinary. We are just a normal family getting by day by day and trying to do it the best we can! We enjoy ourselves sometimes, sometimes we don't! We do love camping, reading, I like to garden, the boys like to play video games, ride bikes, skateboard...whatever! We dress up like mountain men (and woman) and shoot muzzle-loader-blackpowder rifles and attend rendezvous a couple times a year. You know, kinda like a re-enactment thingy, without the actual re-enacting of a specific event. We kinda recreate the feeling of a time period. Real primitive....no showers...cooking over a fire...sleeping in canvas tents...candles for light. That stuff. Anyway, hopefully this blog will at least amuse someone (other than myself), give someone hope that they can do it too (homeschooling, college as an adult, whatever), and maybe fill a couple minutes of your day with a smile or giggle or something! God loves ya! Julie