5 years ago...

Five years ago, a friend sent an email through our homeschool board inviting us to follow her blog, journaling her homeschool adventures.

I had never read a blog before.  But in that click, I knew I wanted one!

I quickly signed up for a blogger account and made my first post...hitting 'submit' and sending it into cyberspace...all the while curious if anyone would read it.

To look back now, I am overwhelmed by the connections I have made - to fellow homeschoolers, stay-at-home moms, moms that craft, moms that like to cook, snarky moms, moms who have older children and are a source of encouragement and serve as a mentor to me.

The coolest thing?  5 years have gone by and I am honored to continue calling them my friends.

Some people who don't blog, don't get it.  It seems like such a foreign idea to them that you'd desire a connection with someone whom you may never meet.  But, I know that God has set this little ol' blog here for a reason and I'm thankful for that each and every day.  And thankful for all the friendships I've made.

5 years ago, my kiddos looked like this:

I love to look back at the pictures in those early years of blogging.

Never did I imagine that I'd still be typing up new posts 5 years later.  Not that I didn't think I'd have enough to say, just didn't know if I'd have the time to share it.  ;-D

Some of it is silly, some is of our school time, some is just the kids.  A few scattered posts might even be inspirational - but they are mine and I'm happy to still be here 5 years later. 

Momma's got a new bag!

This week has been a harder week than normal because T has been gone since Monday.  My days feel normal, because I'm used to being here with the 3 kids all day, but the nighttime routine has been harder.

Yesterday was our busiest day with Co-op in the morning and a full evening of events at church.

I needed to take our laptop to church so the kids could watch a movie while I practiced in our bell choir from 8-9 last evening.  I had been using a tote bag from the medical practice that delivered our babies, but I yesterday I needed a distraction and a creative outlet.  I sat down at my sewing table with a plan to make a bag to hold our laptop, cables as well as a movie (and maybe a few snacks).  I wanted it to of course be functional, but it also needed to be stylish.

I had no pattern - I only had the dimensions of my laptop and an idea in mind.  A few hours later, I was feeling re-energized and pretty lucky to have such a cute bag (if I may say so myself) to carry my laptop.  I like it so much, I think it will carry just about anything, not just the laptop.

I have a few slight modifications for the next one, but I think I may try to type up a pattern to sell as well as make a few more of these cuties.

Excited for T to arrive home tonight - and we're following his travels on flight tracker, aka T Tracker!  Now to straighten up the house so it looks like I did more than just sew a new bag this week! ;-D

100th day - 100%

Today was Fourel Academy's 100th Day of School.

Didn't know our school was named Fourel Academy?  You see the title at the top of my blog?  Living to Learn and Learning to Live.

Four L's = Fourel  :)  Witty, huh?

Back to the story.

Today was our 100th day of school and I didn't even spend a minute on pinterest looking for ideas.  Well, that isn't entirely true - I spent many minutes on pinterest - I just wasn't looking for ideas for our 100th day.  ;)

Again, back to today, and on to God.  Guess what?  God planned our day for us.

3 of Q's spelling words today were: Centennial, Century and Centimeter

And he measured triangles finding their area in square centimeters.

And E's math was counting cents!

We've been plugging along for 99 days and BAM!  On our 100th day, we happen to be on a schedule that allows us to have 100 - CENT - flash before our eyes many times!

Our biggest lesson for our 100th day - seeing God in everything we do!

And knowing He's with us 100% of the time!

Wordless Wednesday

A New Year's Tradition

Besides the annual Pork & Sauerkraut meal on January 1,  I've been trying to be consistent with a word of the year tradition.

At the start of 2009, I asked God to lay a word on my heart and He gave me: INSPIRE.  I used that word to search for what inspired me or how I could inspire others.

In 2010, I did not take the time to ask or listen for a word.

In 2011, I asked God to lay a word on my heart for the year, and He gave me: TRANSFORM.  It was a year of transformation for me, our family, a Ukrainian boy we hosted in the summer, Artem and those that heard Artem's story.  Last year was a year of transformation and change.  I kept a piece of paper on my bulletin board with "Transform" circled in the middle and spider legs coming out with scripture, stories, books and Godincedences that touched our family deeply in 2011.

With those recollections, I was eager to ask God for a word for 2012.  I prayed about it 2 weeks ago and He gave me a word the next day.  It was a very clear call to use the word REFLECTION.  After hearing the word, I came across several pictures in my mind that God was using to tell me what He meant.  I'm a visual person, so I like to have an image in my mind with my word.  Last year, I used the picture of a caterpillar and butterfly to visualize my word, Transform.

This year, I found a lot of beautiful images of nature reflected in water.  Even though there were some really breathtaking pictures, it just didn't feel right.  I did not want the reflection to be the same image simply reversed - I wanted it to be a different image.  I wanted it to be an image reflected that isn't seen in the rest of the picture.  I don't know if this is what God had in mind for my word, but it is what spoke to me the loudest.

I will admit that this word feels daunting to me, but after seeing the growth from last year, I'm stepping forward on 1-1-12 with REFLECTION on my mind and in my heart.  And I wait in excited anticipation to see this word come to life.