Urban Farm Girl

Notebookingpages.com is Having a Sale!

2010-03-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

Get Ready for Spring - Nature Notebooking Sale

Spring is just around the corner! Get outside and seize the most from your day . . . with Nature Notebooking!

Notebooking is a powerful tool that captures what your children have learned, turning it into a concise, artful piece of work. Visit NotebookingPages.com for free and affordable templates to help you get started today! Simply print out a selection of free notebooking templates or choose pages from one of their themed sets.

Now is a great time to try some of NotebookingPages.com's nature products during their Get Ready for Spring Sale Event!

See below: a great list of ways to use their popular "Nature Notebooking Pages".

Check out all of the sale details here:

NotebookingPages.com Spring Sale Event

Save even more with these special coupons!

Use coupon code: spring15p to save an additional 15%.
Use coupon code: spring5 to save $5 off any purchase of $10 or more.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Some Ideas for Using Your NotebookingPages.com Nature Pages

by Debra @ NotebookingPages.com

These are some of the ideas behind why I created each of these pages.

Maybe they will help spark an idea for your use of them as well.

7 Days of Creation
Draw &/or write captions & narrations for each day of creation.

All About Animals
“Cover Pages”
Print these pages on cardstock and laminate/put in sheet protectors to make divisions for your notebook.

“Animal Tracks”
Use these to draw the paw (foot) prints of the animals you study and record their name on the line provided. You could draw one print or a set of front/back prints.

“General Pages”
Use these pages to draw or paste a picture of the animal being observed/studied.

Allow children to use the Word Bank to help them write a detailed entry about the animal’s characteristics.

Use the “Special Characteristic” box to draw the animal’s special beak, feet, paw print or other feature that has a uniquely designed purpose.

“Observation Jar”
The only difference between these two pages are the pictures at the top—boy/girl.
Allow children to catch their critters and bring back home to observe.
Use this page to draw/write about their observations.

Animal Pages
Print out several of these pages and file them in the appropriate section of your notebook—ready for your nature studies! Or just print out several pages of each and keep them handy!

Use the side box on these pages to jot down details to remember about the critter you’re observing or reading about. Then write a summary below your drawing.

“Frogs and Toads”
Fill in the life cycle of frogs/toads using pictures or words. The first page gives a caption for each box and the 2nd page leaves this blank.

“Beaks & Feet”
Observe the special beaks and feet of birds. Draw a picture of those you observe/study and jot down their purposes.

“Arthropods, Insects, Spiders”
Several pages are given for drawing the arthropods you are studying by their segments. Space is given to write the details about each segment.

The next pages can be used to draw/write about arthropods. Word banks are given to help children remember what to look for when drawing/writing.

There are several pages for the life cycle of insects—some for complete and incomplete metamorphosis. Some have details, some do not.

There are 2 pages given for drawing the web of a particular spider. Use the smaller box to draw a picture of the spider and the larger box for the web. One page gives a box for any details you would like your child to write about.

Habitats
Use these pages to record what you find in a variety of habitats or to draw a picture of the landscape.

Have children take a magnifying glass when observing tiny creatures, a jar for any catches they want to bring home, and a digital camera to take pictures of those fast-moving creatures.

Nature Log & Journaling Pages
“Log Pages”
Use the nature log pages to record all your finds—especially the dates of the birds arriving in spring and the first flowers opening in spring—first day of snow—???? Keep this simple and keep it handy! There are pages for each season.

“Vine Bordered Journal Pages”
Use these for journaling/drawing about your nature studies. Use the divided four boxes (with/without lines) to compare different animals or plants—like all the different black-colored birds in your backyard or poison ivy and other *imposters*. Use the boxes with lines to record four different topics about a particular animal/plant.

Plants, Flowers & Trees Pages
Use the first page as a divider for your notebook.

Use the first tree page to draw detailed sketches (or add pictures) of a specific tree/shrub.

Use “Leaf of a Tree” & “Bark of a Tree” to add samples of your tree.

Use “Plant & Flower Parts” to draw detailed sketches of the parts of a plant/flower. Let children use the Word Bank to help them remember which parts are needed (and how to spell them).

Use the last page to draw detailed sketches of the leaves/flowers or to add samples.

Rocks & Minerals
Use these pages to draw & glue photographs of collected rocks. Use the space provided to describe your finds or to narrate what has been learned about the types of rocks & minerals.

Seasons Pages
Use one of the first couple of pages for a division in your notebook. You could use the empty boxes to record your observations of a certain animal, plant, tree through the four seasons or to draw the locations of the sun/moon for each season.

Use the rest of the pages for journaling/drawing about seasonal studies.

Weather Pages
Use the first page as a divider for your notebook.

“Week of Weather” - use the pictures to draw the day’s weather.

“Precipitation” - Fill in the small boxes with the dates for the month and then record the amount of rainfall for the day—by collecting it yourself, watching the news, looking it up online…

100 Fun Frames & Borders—Great for nature copywork, narrations, drawings, journaling, etc.!

Bye Bye Barbara!

2010-03-16T13:02:00.000-07:00

Barbara is the name our kids chose for the pig we bought to raise for slaughter. (I have no idea why.) Today she went to the great barn in the sky and by next week we'll be enjoying bacon complements of Barbara. Mmmmm...

Musings of a Sinful Mother

2010-02-17T12:08:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I am ashamed of myself. As I lay in bed last night contemplating the day, I realized my eleven year old son has more patience with his brother than I do. When a situation gets tense, he is more likely to bring humor to the situation than to get angry. With me, it is just the opposite.

Not surprisingly, my boys' relationship with one another is thriving, while I struggle to connect with my middle son. I suppose it's confession time, eh?

Usually, when this starts happening I know it's time to spend more of my day on my knees and less of it doing all the million things that seem so urgent in the moment. Sigh... My hope lies in the Lord of the universe, otherwise I may just ignore my issues and trip merrily on my way. In the moment, that would be easier but ultimately, my son would suffer even more than he already has.

Staying Cool in the Snow

2010-02-10T13:08:00.000-08:00

Can you get any cuter than this?

Enterprizing and Thoughtful Boy

2010-02-03T19:35:00.000-08:00

Ezra is my little entrepreneur. The great thing is that he is also thoughtful, and he combines the two well. He went door to door, shoveling walks in our small neighborhood but didn't ask for money from anyone. If they offered to pay him, he told them he didn't have to have money for his work. Some insisted on paying him, while others didn't. In the end, he made $45. Not bad for an eleven year old! Great job, Ezra!

Have We Created a House of Cards?

2010-01-26T19:10:00.000-08:00

As January speeds to a close I am starting to get into the swing
of things again for the second half of the school year. The
holidays are behind us (whew!) and we are finally back into our
normal routine. This is the time of year when I look back over
the fall semester and start panicking about what I haven't
accomplished yet this year. I have to reign in my emotions and
focus again on what I have determined is my philosophy of
education.

The longer I home educate the more strongly I believe that our
public school system has missed the mark horribly when it comes
to timing. In an effort to ease the discomfort of millions of
parents who have either chosen to work outside the home or have
to out of necessity, our school system has forced younger and
younger children into formal education. After all, it makes
sense that early exposure to reading and math would make better
students--right? Unfortunately, in spite of the valiant efforts
of thousands of teachers and administrators, the evidence points
to the contrary. Never before has the United States seen so many
illiterate students and such a high drop-out rate. Our current
system has built a house of cards that is falling quickly.

I believe that part of the failure of the system is due to the
fact that children's brains are not physically ready for the
level of thinking required by formal education until they are
much older. There are many examples of this in history. For
instance, Patrick Henry, who was the instigator of the Bill of
Rights and the famous lawyer during Revolutionary times,
literally could not be kept in a school building and had to be
home educated by his father. (He kept escaping into the woods!)
This education didn't start in earnest until Patrick was nine
years old. Incidentally, he also didn't wear shoes until then!
Most children up until the early 1900's didn't attend formal
schooling until they were around nine years old, and most of them
only managed about five months of schooling out of every year,
and yet, the literacy rate was much higher at the turn of the
20th century than it is now!

How does this relate to my philosophy of education? I have come
to the conclusion that my children can be taught in the home
school everything they need to be successful without foisting
formal education on them until their brains have time to develop.
How freeing it is to realize my children don't have to plod along
on a public school schedule (extinguishing their love of learning
the while) and that I can truly be the one who decides what is
best for them. I have made this choice because with my adopted
children especially, relationship is more important than the
three R's. I have focused on relationship first and have only
pressed formal education after a positive relationship was
intact. The irony in this is that I'm sure I would not be able
to teach them effectively had I not started with the
relationship.

So, if this is your first year teaching at home, or if you have
the opportunity to keep your little ones home an extra year if
you are sending them away to school, take my advice and focus on
relationship first. Let your child explore and learn naturally
and concentrate on connecting with him. My prediction is that
both you and your child will be more successful in the long run
and you will avoid much frustration, both in learning and in
loving.

One Horse Open Sled?

2010-01-10T15:35:00.000-08:00

The Colles family graciously invited the kids for an overnighter where they frolicked in the snow with Basksko the horse on a sled. Wow, did they have fun!

Locked and Loaded

2009-12-12T14:12:00.000-08:00

The boys are thrilled with their new "weapons" and allowed us to take a few pictures of them with their treasures. Air soft guns and a bow and arrow are being brandished in these pics and the boys are delighted to say the least.

Beauty in the morning

2009-11-20T14:04:00.000-08:00

I got up to the most serene fog this morning. I was blown away by the beauty of it and was able to get a few pictures. The air was heavy with the scent of rain and fallen leaves, the sunlight was struggling to win the fight against one of the thickest fogs I have observed in several years. The majesty of God's creation seemed to be highlighted, rather than muted, by the cloud cover and I had to share the moment.

Sibling Rivalry and Fellowship with a Purpose Part 2

2009-11-15T19:32:00.000-08:00

Once you get your kids to a point where they are interacting together well, (which could take months) the next important step to take is finding ways to fellowship with a purpose. Fellowship with a purpose takes a little more work but it is well worth it because not only do you help your children develop their friendships, but you are benefiting from deeper friendships as well.

Find families that share your value system and begin to have them over, go on field trips together if you homeschool, and as you discover which personalities blend the best, develop those friendships first. This is fellowship with a purpose. You are intentionally capitalizing on the value of friendships with people who are most likely to share your value systems and who will support you in parenting your children.

In this day and age, our culture is obsessed with exposing kids to people who are unlike them so that when they grow up, they will be less likely to be prejudiced against other people groups. This is a great sentiment, and to an extent, I agree with that strategy. The problem is that we have inadvertently thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

In exposing our children to so many new ideas and cultures at such a young age, we forget that they are not yet well acquainted with who they are. If they do not first get a solid foundation in the belief systems of their own family, someday it will be very easy to dislodge them from their trust in Christ because they will have never made it their own faith.

This is why fellowship with a purpose is so important. Spending lots of time pursuing hobbies and sports can undermine the influence we ultimately have with our children. We have put these activities on a pedestal because we have bought into the lie that good socialization can only happen in these environments. On the contrary, good socialization happens when kids are exposed to loving adults who can mentor them and model for them what being a Christ follower looks like. Sports and other activities are only valuable when they are a small percentage of the whole--a supplement to what is happening within the family.

As parents, our job is to come alongside our children and teens and oversee the socialization they are exposed to. This is most easily achieved when the family is involved in events and gatherings together. If you are wondering how this is accomplished, I'll give you a few ideas...

* Get involved in a small group at your church or attend a house church.
It is important to note that many small groups are not family integrated.
If your church doesn't have a group like this, you may consider starting
one. You may be surprised at how many families are tired of being segregated
during worship and church activities and would be thrilled to have such a
group available to them.

* Instead of sending your teens to a youth group, consider having teens over to your
own home on a monthly or weekly basis for a group game night. This is a great
way to get to know your teen's friends while also staying close and available.

* Host family game or movie nights for families in your church or small group. This
is a fun way to build friendships among adults, teens, and children all at the
same time!

* Join your local YMCA and take advantage of their family exercise rooms, pool, and
intramural sports teams as a family.

These are a few ideas to get you started and to show you there are ways to enjoy your family while still helping your children get the friendship and interaction they need--even if you are home educating. A good way to determine if you are choosing activities that build your family up is to ask yourself how each choice will affect your family's schedule. Here are a few questions in closing to ask when trying to decide..

1. Will our family still be able to eat dinner together at least 4 times per week?

2. Will my children be able to be in bed by their stated bed time at least 5 times
a week?

3. Is this activity in line with my child's greatest interests and/or gifts?

4. Will this activity cause me as a parent to be tired much of the time, resulting
in less energy to interact with my children?

If the answers to these questions are acceptable to you (meaning you still have time to be a family and as a parent you won't feel your energy levels are compromised much of the time) then the proposed activity is probably a safe thing to invest in. If not, you may need to re-evaluate it's importance.

Finally, this all ties into sibling rivalry because often, siblings are separated so much (especially if they attend school away from home) that they don't have the opportunity to know one another. In addition, they become accustomed to only interacting with children their own age, making them intolerant of younger siblings or disrespectful of older ones. If your family is striving to stick together much of the time--your children will eventually begin to relate in more positive ways and there will be fewer conflicts. The great benefit to improving sibling relationships is that this prepares them very effectively for the relationships they will have at college, in the workplace, and in their own families as adults.

Sibling Rivalry and Fellowship with a Purpose Part 1

2009-11-10T06:58:00.000-08:00

I have more and more conversations about building family unity and striving for good relationships within the family, while balancing that desire with the reality that our kids need solid friendships and positive social interactions. As our kids have grown to love each other post adoption, I've noticed a few things that have helped them to increase in their love for one another, and at the same time enjoy friendships outside our home.

The first thing I know that has helped more than anything else is saying no. Saying no to sports teams, scout troops, too many 4-H projects and meetings, and generally too much activity outside the four walls of our home has been key. Turns out, busyness allows us as parents to avoid facing conflict and character problems that naturally arise when personalities are together for days at a time.

It is far too easy to pretend your kids are getting along okay when you are wrapped up in 5 or more activities per week that segregate your family. In addition, kids don't have to resolve their differences when they are seldom together. I have a wise friend who pointed out to me that siblings do occasionally fight, and that nearly constant bickering might be normal by today's standards, but it certainly isn't God's model for the family.

If your kids can't play together for more than 5 minutes without a fight, and that is the norm in your house, my first suggestion would be to bring them home. Pull them out of some activities so you have at least 3 nights per week at home, even if you homeschool. Stay close to them and teach them how to interact without fighting. Play games as a family,take them for walks in your neighborhood, play sports together in your yard, and watch how the different personalities interact so you know what you need to work on as a parent in their training.

Remember, sports, lessons and groups like scouts are all good things-- but they won't mean very much in the long run if your children have fractured family relationships. One day they'll wake up and no longer be able to play football and they will regret that they have lived in the same house for nearly 20 years with siblings they still don't know or appreciate.

Perfect Day

2009-10-10T10:22:00.000-07:00

Today is a perfect day. The sun is shining, the sky is that gorgeous blue you only see in the fall, the leaves are turning, and the horses are neighing. Temperatures will top out around 63 degrees, and the kids actually were happy to help with outside chores today. The sun makes Rosie's hair glow gold and even our old Mare, Chica,is frisky, rolling in the mud of course, but I'll forgive her.

2009-09-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

Are our children really as strong as we think they are? When we observe our fostered and adopted kids it can appear they are tough and that the story of their lives has not affected them. Unfortunately, little ones don't truly bounce back as well as we think they do. They still are crying out for their unmet emotional needs to be met and when they are met, we will see dramatic improvements in their behavior.

One of those basic needs is time. The biggest difference I have seen while parenting biological versus adopted children, is that it doesn't take very long for my adopted kids to feel neglected. If I am not touching base with them frequently, they begin to display undesirable behaviors and in some cases, even become aggressive. This is far less noticable in my biological son even though I know he needs the same things they do.

More isn't necessarily better but many people think that it is. The trouble with this view is that more toys, more activities, more TV, can never replace the most valuable thing you have to offer your children--yourself. When the schedule piles on and I can't escape the busyness, I make it a point to spend a bit of one on one time with each of my children. When I don't, the result is misbehaving kids who are extremely disregulated. Keeping our schedule clear is a priority in our family unless an activity is of long term importance or we have a child who is highly interested in a particular activity or is gifted in an area that could be beneficial to him. For instance, one of our sons loves sports and we make sure he gets to pick a sport to play once a year. Things like piano lessons and home school co-op are regular parts of our schedule as well.

Because I teach my children at home, they get one on one time with me by default because of school work. In spite of this, there are days that we get so caught up in keeping up with everything that I have to stop to pay special attention to a little one who has gotten lost in the shuffle. For a child who has been neglected, this lost feeling makes them go into survival mode.

How do you feel when you are in survival mode? I know for me, when I get stressed out guess what, I'm irritable, mouthy, and I feel like being aggressive. Sound familiar? If we feel out of sorts as adults, imagine how our formerly neglected and abused children feel when they are tired or hungry, or just haven't gotten enough of mommy.

Gabriel, my second son, was pushed into survival mode this week when our pet dairy goat passed away right in front of us. I knew he was upset about it, but as usual, his pain didn't come out as crying or talking. Loss is double hard for kids who have lost so much. Outwardly, they seem to let things roll off but inwardly, the wounds go deeper because they stuff that emotion.

Soon after our goat died, we had friends arrive who were supposed to come over to play that day. Gabriel didn't deal with this well and soon was shoving other kids, name calling, and bullying everyone in sight. After several requests, I got him to come inside so I could help him calm down. When I set the timer for 20 minutes and asked him to stay close to me until it went off, he started throwing a tantrum and talking like a baby.

We learned early in this journey that stress causes regression. Baby talk and acting as if he is two or three years old is very common when Gabriel gets overwhelmed. He was three years old when he was removed from his biological mother's home and placed in a foster home and that is the age he returns to in his mind when he is stressed out.

So, I knew what I had to do and when he had quieted down, I asked him to choose a game and we would play together. As we played he slowly returned to his physical age (eight years old) and began to speak and act normally again.

It challenges most people to watch how I responded and not believe that I rewarded Gabriel for poor behavior. Before I adopted, I would have said the same thing. Now, however, I understand that when my child becomes unmanagable and out of control, it is my job to meet him where he is and devote some extra time with him.

It is my belief that foster and adoptive parents have an extra layer of responsibility when it comes to sacrificing for our children. They have suffered immensely already and if we do not make a conscious decision to honor them with our time, someday when they need us the most, they will no longer have time to listen to our advice or even receive our help.

For help in your adoptive search and to get a free mini-course, click on the link above. If you would like to, you can get your own completely unique content version of this article.

Supplemental Help

2009-08-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

It is official--we have had the kids on supplements to help with anxiety for three months now and I can honestly say we are experiencing what it is like to be normal. We were approaching it before but the supplements tipped us over the edge.

For those of you who are confused, let me explain...

At the home school conference we attended a series of classes by a lady named Dianne Craft. She was hilarious, intelligent, and knowledgeable, all wrapped up in one person. Her seminars were about teaching learning challenged and behaviorally challenged kids and I hung on her every word. We've been using her techniques for teaching Rose since we came home from convention and I am slowly seeing progress.

Anyway, we decided to take her advice and put the kids on several supplements to help lower their anxiety levels. (While we were at the conference, Gabriel was so stressed out that he threw yogurt at the babysitter and pitched tantrums at every turn. He ended up being sick and we didn't know it but even at that, he was pretty out of control and we were really downhearted that after one night of our being absent he could have this much anxiety.) So, after doing some research, sometime in mid-May, we put them on the supplements Dianne had suggested.

I'll give you the list, just in case you have an anxiety-ridden child out there. She says you have to do it for 3 months to really know if it is working.

Acidopholis
Grape Seed extract
Magnesium
EFAs for Children (ESA stands for Essential Fatty Acids)

Visit her website to find out why she recommends this particular combination of supplements.

Teach Your Child to Read

2009-08-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

When I signed up for the home schooling thing I was afraid the most about teaching my kids to read. Even though I am a teacher by trade, the responsibility of teaching a child to read has always weighed heavy on me. My oldest was a late bloomer but I wouldn't say he is learning disabled. Now he is a fluent and voracious reader. My middle has had a rough start on reading because of his life experiences and the moves he was forced to endure set him back developmentally but now he is taking off and I'm very proud of his progress.

My third is a different story. I am so glad I've been at this for a while now or else I may be panicking more (I say more because there are days I am surly panicking). She too has seen more than her share of sorrows at the tender age of seven but in most ways you would never know it. While her brother has consistently struggled with anxiety, she has slowly but steadily accepted and embraced her new family with increasing trust (and dare I say, joy?). Developmentally, she has surpassed her brother because she is more relaxed and therefore is more able to grow. I am proud of her too. She has overcome so much and is a joy to be with (after about 10am LOL).

This reading thing has taken her for a spin though. After taking some courses this spring about learning disabled kids and how to do therapy with them in your home, I was both encouraged and sad. I could see the writing on the wall for her and knew we both had a mountain of work ahead of us. So, while her brother has flown through "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" she continues to struggle along behind him, working at an agonizing pace. We have been doing the prescribed excersizes and I can see they are helping but she continues to feel like she doesn't measure up and my heart breaks for her. I cannot wait until the day when she follows in her brothers' footsteps and cracks open her first "real" book. Until then, I am saddened to watch her sit on the floor with piles of books (not picture books, chapter books) next to her, turning the pages and looking, looking at the words. She wants it so bad! Keep on working, Rosie girl!

Dying to Live

2009-08-09T21:25:00.000-07:00

Distant and preoccupied. How is it that I can be with my children 24 hours a day (literally) and still not be present with them? Amazingly, this is my biggest struggle. Each day I either choose to engage in the battle for my children’s hearts-- or I don’t-- and I can tell when I haven’t fought for them. As much as I hate to admit it, the ones is on me when their behavior escalates and I am at my wits end.

In Luke 9:23 Jesus tells us to give up our selfish ways and take up our cross, and follow him. I was contemplating this after a church meeting last week, trying to grapple with the concept in my mind. Such a familiar verse and yet, so hard to live out. Leaving behind my selfish ways may mean leaving behind the pile of dirty dishes and laundry to sit outside with my kids while they play in the yard, instead of leaving them to play alone. It may mean going to bed with cluttered rooms because I took the extra time to talk with them before tucking them in for the night. It may mean getting rid of the television because it is a distraction from the most important things in life, like raising my kids.

When I don’t manage my time well, my children suffer. When I fail to plan ahead for hard days, they suffer again. When I am tired because I stayed up too late, they suffer because I yell at them. Homeschooling doesn’t solve these issues, it only magnifies them because they are constantly in my face. I know this is good because without the constant reminders, sadly, I would never change. Fortunately, I have the good Lord to help me when I am weak and sometimes I can feel His strength so distinctly I feel as if He may walk into the room. All the while, the battle rages around me and though I hate to admit it, every minute, every hour, every day, brings me closer to the end of the struggle, when I will discover how I did.

Images of the Good Shepherd flood my mind, giving me glimpses of who I should be and what I am striving for. The gentle nudging of his staff to a wayward lamb, the tenderness with which he leads his flock to greener pastures, His urgent call when a young lamb has wandered off, all remind me of my job. How glad I am that God has given me an example of who I should be. I tend toward harshness but He steers me toward gentleness and it always works better. After all, “a soft answer turns away wrath”.

As I tend to my real animals out on our little farm, they look up at me with trusting eyes, waiting for their share of hay and grain. They bleat with anticipation when they see me and my little Velvatine Rabbit paces in her cage as I come nearer. My goal is that one day my two adopted children will look to me with that same trust and eagerness. That they will look to see where I am leading and they will follow. But it all depends on my death to self and how willing I am to be full of grace.

Adopted Children Display "Defiance" but What is it Really?

2009-08-08T07:24:00.000-07:00

"No, I don't feel like it." That was the response I got a few
weeks ago when I asked my adopted son to take a shower. I had
prepared him ahead of time, given him a five minute warning, and
had retrieved his clothing to make it easier. Still, he was
"defying" me. Why?

For a stranger watching this exchange, you may have thought I was
too lenient in my response when I replied, "Okay, I'm going to
ask you again in five minutes." When we signed up for our foster care program I would have laughed at such a response. If youknew my son however, and the dark issues of trauma that surround his past, you would know something deeper was at work here.

Traumatized children are sometimes hard to read. We make
assumptions about them that are untrue based on our own
perceptions. The biggest thing I have learned about dealing with
what looks like defiance in my adopted children is that things
are often not what they seem. If I can keep my cool long enough
to get to the heart of the matter, scenarios like this one do not
escalate and my kids are happier, and more relaxed. In addition,
they have fewer discipline problems. Not because I ignore their
issues (they aren't the type of issues that can be ignored!) but
because I approach my children with understanding and mercy.

So what did I do about the shower? First, I considered the
situation. We were up late the night before and often that means
my son has urinated in his pull-up. He has a distended bowel due
to anxiety (former foster kids often have anxiety issues) and
late nights can mean he has feces in his pants as well. This
makes him embarrassed, especially since he doesn't have the small
motor skills to clean himself up properly. Usually when he
refuses to take a shower it means he needs help but is too
embarrassed to ask. When the timer beeped I made sure we were
out of earshot of his siblings and quietly asked him if he needed
help getting cleaned up. He nodded and went immediately to the
bathroom.

This issue was not defiance at all--it was a simple matter of
embarrassment. If I had treated it as defiance (which I am sad
to report, I have in the past) it would only have damaged my
relationship with my son and we would not have solved anything.
He may have been clean, but our relationship may have needed
repairing. One step forward, two steps back.

Know your child. Know his issues. Learn his heart and lead him
to the love you have for him.

2009-08-05T20:26:00.000-07:00

Hemi the horse arrived a few days ago and is absolutely beautiful. He's a six year old paint gelding with a wonderful disposition. Chica wasn't so happy with him at first and was going after him in the beginning but is finally deciding she's okay with him.

Molly

2009-07-23T21:56:00.000-07:00

I know we have enough animals... At least that is what Tim keeps telling me. When I saw the post on Freecycle about a little long haired kitten I responded to it right away. Tim's only prerequisite for getting the kitten was that we allow him to video tape us begging for another animal while standing in the barnyard in front of the horse, goats, chickens, and rabbits. NO PROBLEM!! So, drumroll please... the newest addition to our family. Molly.

2009-07-15T20:02:00.000-07:00

I was listening to a sermon about preparing your kids for marriage the other night when the pastor said something that caught my attention. He said fathers are to protect their daughters until the day they are given in marriage. Sending them off into the world alone to fend for themselves and try to find a suitable husband is not the picture God gives us in the Bible of how a daughter should find a mate. With boys, the same is true, only in a different sense. Boys may go into the world to live on their own and make their way but when it is time for them to find a wife, God expects us parents to help our boys--not just leave them to their every whim and expect that it will all work out okay! I found this intriguing and also refreshing because it is what I have felt in my spirit for a while but didn't know how to put it. He used the example of Abraham finding a wife for Isaac and the care he took in making sure it was done right. Isaac was 40! Perfectly capable by our culture's standards, of finding his own mate, and yet, his Father helped him and at the end of the story, it says Isaac loved her.

Love, after all, is a choice.

I know I am simplifying it--there is much more that goes into all this than just a concerned parent, but really-- how much heartache could be avoided if fathers took seriously their commitment to protecting their children by helping them with the most important decision they will ever make?

Planting Flowers

2009-06-20T20:26:00.000-07:00

Rosie is very excited about the flowers we planted. She stuck right with me through two full hours of preparation and planting.

Tree Climber

2009-06-18T20:37:00.000-07:00

Gabriel has become quite the tree climber. His adventuresome spirit shines through in these climbing pictures Tim took. Plus, he's really cute.

He is a typical boy, pushing the limits all the time of what he will risk.

A few minutes after this was taken, he climbed too high and fell over 15 feet to the ground onto his bottom. Fortunately, he wasn't hurt, just really scared.

To the Zoo!

2009-06-13T12:55:00.000-07:00

Animal Classification calls for a trip to the zoo so that is where we went to kick off our new unit. As we have learned about all the different kinds of animals God created on days 5 and 6 we have been delighted whenever we get the opportunity to look at these creatures up close.

This is the Galapagos Tortoise--the famed tortoise discovered on the island of Galapagos by Charles Darwin, who went to school to be a pastor interestingly enough--not a scientist. In fact, there are a lot of interesting things you can learn about Darwin if you read a little about his life. We have had some fun discussions about how hilarious the concept of evolution is and have observed many things in nature that continue to disprove it. (Like for instance, have you ever thought about what a bat ate before it developed it's echolocation ability? If evolution were true, bats would have died out long before they had a chance to evolve echolocation because that is how they find their food!)

The second day of our unit, we classified our stuffed animals. These two were placed together by Rose, who noticed that both the giraffe and the elephant have horns. I thought that was cute.

Later in the unit, we went exploring in a creek to see what creatures we could find there.

We brought home a dragonfly nymph, some crayfish, and three different types of fish.

Ah, the long awaited dissection. We dissected a starfish towards the end of our unit and it was really gross. I swallowed my feelings and acted excited in the interest of education.

Of all three children, Rosie was the most excited about the dissecting. She was examining the starfish, finding it's parts and asking good questions the whole time. The boys just wanted to get it over with. She says she wants to be a veterinarian and it appears she may have what it takes. I love that she is learning so much about science even though with her dyslexia she has not mastered reading yet. If she were bound to learn only through books she would be largely stuck and may end up hating to learn. As it is, she is engaged by our unit studies in spite of her inability to read.

Growing Up

2009-05-20T20:23:00.000-07:00

Our chicks are quickly becoming chickens and are roaming about the yard, digging up worms and generally enjoying the fabulous spring weather with us. We now have 28 chickens in our little flock.

How Did This Happen?

2009-05-11T20:16:00.000-07:00

When we brought him home, I was bound and determined that Mouse would be a barn cat. No compromises. No question. Sigh... Look who has wiggled his way inside. I'm such a softie.

2009-05-05T20:09:00.000-07:00

Even though we have a gazzillion trees, Tim decided we needed more. He brought home something like 20 trees he got for free at an Arbor Day festival and planted them the next day with Rosie's help. She is definitely our little gardener!

Japan

2009-04-28T12:35:00.000-07:00

We have been studying Japan and it's culture during school time and have enjoyed it so much! This is Ezra painting a Japanese screen. He was so interested in this unit that he says he wants to be a missionary to Japan!

Here are pictures of us sewing Kimonos (that didn't turn out--oh well). Turns out, Kimonos are supposed to be REALLY BIG so you can wrap them around you. I didn't have a real pattern and didn't cut enough material. Although I hope to salvage them someday...sigh.

Room to Breathe

2009-04-16T19:56:00.000-07:00

How fun to have so much space for the kids to explore this spring. They are busy building forts out in the back 40 with their friend, Jeneca. Last I heard they had come up with their own bartering and monetary system and were trading for pottery they have made from our soil (which has high clay content). It isn't uncommon to hear the whoop of an Indian warrior coming up the path to our house.

Introducing Chica

2009-04-11T21:48:00.000-07:00

My friend, Lisa and I settling our new horse, Chica into her freshly constructed stall. Chica is a 22 year old Arabian mare with a sweet temperment who was severely neglected. She has gained almost 400 pounds since she was found, if you can believe it, and still has about 150 pounds to go before she is truly rehabilitated. We are so glad to have her!

Building

2009-03-24T19:44:00.000-07:00

Though we were perfectly happy with the thought of makeshift stalls, our wonderful friend, Jim came over and built us Breyer-style stalls for our little barn last weekend. Soon they will be filled with rescued horses, at least one of them ours, and we will be proud owners of a new horse. Whoo hoo!

2009-03-18T18:41:00.000-07:00

These are our new chicks that Lisa ordered for us. We're very excited to have fresh eggs come summertime!

Beautiful Baby

2009-03-10T14:58:00.000-07:00

Here is Flower, one of Ruby's babies, looking much better with fur. Again, much more attractive in real life... She is the little doe we have decided to keep to show. She is about 6 weeks old in this picture.

Preparing for Milk

2009-02-22T20:01:00.000-08:00

Daisy is due to kid any day now so I've got all my supplies organized and ready to go. It makes my little heart glad to think of the wonderful milk that will soon fill those jars...

Much Better

2009-02-20T18:30:00.000-08:00

These are Ruby's babies with fur. They are much easier to look at now! The kids are having fun holding them, as you can see...

Da Mama

2009-02-10T13:50:00.000-08:00

This is Ruby. Not a great picture but good enough to see how completely adorable she is in real life. There is hope for her babies.

Penny

2009-02-10T13:39:00.001-08:00

She's the one who lays the eggs. We love her.

Babies!

2009-01-30T19:47:00.000-08:00

We all breathed a sigh of relief when our Lionhead rabbit named Ruby, gave birth to four little bundles of skin tonight. Well done, Ruby! I'm sure they won't look like aliens forever--don't take it too hard...

What do You do with 12 Inches of Snow?

2009-01-30T19:45:00.000-08:00

Eat it!

The Booty

2009-01-28T19:39:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I couldn't wait. I had to have at least one hen. Noodle needed a friend. Her name is Penny, and although I have no picture of her yet, I do have a picture of the long awaited first egg that she laid. We are very excited. NO, you don't understand, we (Ezra, Rose, and I) jumped up and down in the freezing cold outside of the chicken coop and gave each other high fives when we found this egg. Can't wait to eat 'em. (There are actually 3 now.)

Noodle

2009-01-20T22:32:00.000-08:00

Thank you, Nathan Smith, for talking us into taking one of your roosters. He is fabulous! One of the most interesting pets I have ever had. Unbeknownst to me, chickens are territorial and stick close to home. So, in spite of the fact that we are technically at the end of a subdivision, because we are zoned for live stock, we can have chickens because they don't ever leave our property. I have vowed that soon we will have our own flock of hens. Oh, we named the rooster Noodle.

Winter Birds

2009-01-04T19:24:00.000-08:00

These birds are feasting on our dried up cherries. I believe they are mama cardinals. Beautiful.

Captain Comes Home

2008-12-30T19:05:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot to post pictures of Captain, the new buckling we built the outside fence for! He is very cute but will soon be a force to be reckoned with so the fence I put up for now will have to be replaced in the spring. The goat people I know say it won't hold up to Captain at his full height and weight. For now, it's hard not to think of him as a pet--he is so cute! This is Gabriel petting him through the fence.

Country Sky

2008-12-28T18:52:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I don't REALLY live in the country--but mostly. This is the kind of sky that always got blocked when I lived downtown. You knew it was there but couldn't really see it and it was a big bummer. I'm very grateful to be able to enjoy the sunset again!

Tall Friends

2008-12-27T08:21:00.000-08:00

After picking up our two does we waited a few weeks to get the "little" buckling named Captain. Once again, I was busting tail to get his fencing in before he arrived and was working frantically. For some reason, this time Tim kept checking on me and even offered to help... The greatest thing happened that day though. Our friends, Nick and Christy from Minnesota were visiting town for the holidays and stopped by while I was trying to finish up. Nick is VERY tall and he set my posts for me--a job I usually need to use a ladder for. Tim hammered in all the staples because apparently my farm muscles haven't kicked in yet. Thank you boys!

Christmas on the Farm

2008-12-26T11:24:00.000-08:00

Our new house has a fireplace, which is one of the more exciting aspects of this move. We did absolutely no traveling this Christmas because we were so tired from moving. I think you can see a little of the roaring Christmas Eve fire behind the kids in this picture.

Daisy and Fudge

2008-12-20T16:00:00.000-08:00

Here are Daisy and Fudge in their new home.

Stowaway

2008-12-20T15:30:00.000-08:00

Okay, so he wasn't really a stowaway but everyone needs a good barn cat (or kitten), right? Rosie was more excited about the kitten than the goats! Turns out, our friends needed a home for this little guy, whom we named Mouse, so when we picked up the goats (in our mini-van turned farm vehicle), we took the kitten home too!

The Fence

2008-12-20T10:13:00.000-08:00

The goats are scheduled to come on the 20th (that's today!!) Unfortunately, late last night I was still not finished with preparations for their arrival. I had built my first ever gate, which I am very proud of, but the roll of fencing still stood against the barn wall, awaiting my touch. At 10:30 last night it was starting to sleet and my eldest son, Ezra had called it quits with helping me and gone inside to bed. No problem I thought. I can nail this fencing thing on my own.

If you have ever tried to unroll fencing by yourself, at night, in a cold barn, with nothing but car headlights to light your way, you may be able to imagine what began to unfold. It certainly wasn't the fence. As I struggled with the roll of fencing I decided to take off my work gloves because they were getting in the way. I also decided to put my cell phone in my pocket in case I needed it for some reason. So far, that's one for two. Taking the gloves off wasn't the smoothest move I've ever made. Long story short, 15 minutes into my fruitless attempts to unroll the fence, my three middle fingers were hopelessly caught inside the wire fencing. The more I pulled, the tighter they were trapped. I could see after just five minutes that one of my fingers was turning blue and I was starting to panic. Great, I have a farm for a grand total of 15 days and I lose my fingers in a farming accident? Typical.

I suddenly remembered my cell phone and pulled it from my pocket with my free hand. I called my knight in shining armor who was in the house, having done the dishes and put the kids to bed single-handedly in order that his lovely bride could fulfill her dreams in the barn. One ring, two, three, four, voice mail. I tried again. One, two, three, four, nothing. Apparently my knight is a heavy sleeper. By this time my fingers were swelling and throbbing. I had visions of hacking them off like the mountain climber who got caught between two rocks. Would I have the courage to do it?

I dragged my overly dramatic brain back to reality and did what any sensible farm girl working totally alone in the dead of night in an ice storm would do. I called 911. I told them to turn off their sirens so my kids wouldn't wake up and waited for their arrival. 15 minutes later the nicest group of guys and one woman, showed up to help me with wire cutters that made me quake in my too big muck boots. After a few harrowing minutes in which I was entirely too close to the massive jaws of those cutters, I was free and trying to bend my fingers. Miraculously, there was no damage--just bruises, and I was eternally grateful to the Chesterfield Volunteer Fire Department.

BUT the best part is yet to come. When those guys got finished rescuing me (and making fun of my sleeping husband) they looked around, picked up my tools, and put up that fence lickety split! They did in fifteen minutes what I couldn't have accomplished in 3 hours! After praying all day that God would help me finish that fence, it wasn't the answer I was expecting--but then God is like that.

The above picture is of my three children, spreading out straw for the new inhabitants of our barn!

Swimming in Goats

2008-12-18T22:01:00.000-08:00

So I'm getting two doe goats from my friend Michelle but it turns out she has one more lonely buckling who doesn't have a home yet.

What was I to say?

Visions of Goat Kids

2008-12-15T21:34:00.000-08:00

So we have a farm.

Now we need...goats. Thanks to my sweet husband who indulges my love to take on more than I can handle, we will soon be adding two new members to our family. Daisy and Fudge, two Oberhasli dairy goats, will be arriving at our new farm in a couple of weeks. Rosie and I are beside ourselves. The boys are happy, but not delirious like we are.

Fudge is the one pictured here. She is almost 7 months old and cute as a button! The most exciting part of all of this is that the goat not pictured (that would be Daisy) will be giving birth to goat kids in the beginning of February! Then the real fun begins as we get to milk her!

It Begins

2008-12-10T17:59:00.000-08:00

After years of dreaming and a whirlwind week of decisions, we decided to make the leap from downtown living to semi-country life. We closed the deal on a small house nestled at the edge of a rural subdivision on December 5th, 2008 and moved in the next day. We were the proud owners of (plus or minus) 5.89 acres of land. The kids and I couldn't contain our excitement about the land. My hubby was thrilled to own a huge three car garage. So, it began. Our urban farm adventure.