Excited to start a new week!

Hey, even I can have a goofy graphic every now and then. The Lord has been working on my heart big time this weekend, putting the right people in the right place to offer encouragement just when I needed it. I've been blessed by His grace and I feel good. I listened to two sermons today (in our car) on the radio, one from a Baptist church about hero worship and a United Methodist preacher (not mine) about why we don't forget our sins when we're forgiven.

Nothing against my preacher husband, but it was refreshing. When I read my Bible this morning I was actually flipping through and you know how some will put their hand in the back of a book while they are flipping through a front part? Well, I happened to look at where my hand had fell in the back while I was looking through Proverbs. My eye immediately fell on Titus 3 and it just spoke to me this morning so I posted it, I didn't know if I was meant to share it or not but seeing how it is Sunday, why not?

Why was I in my car on Sunday listening to sermons? I was on my way to pick up Camille from her visit at her dad's. Danny was calmed by the church music and fell asleep and I had a chance to just listen to God's word and the preacher's message. It's funny how you don't shift in your seat when you're listening to a radio sermon. Lol. Or wonder if the buttons of your blouse are gaping, giving one of the older gentlemen in your church a view. No bulletin, no awkward small talk, just the open road and God. Sigh.

Camille and I talked all the way home about what this week would be like. She was upset when I told her that U.S. Geography had been dropped from our Fridays so I told her that *if* she wants to do it, we can but it's not something we have to do. She was satisfied with that. We talked about what we could do on Fridays if we have a good week in our lessons. We're going to have one field trip Friday a month, go to a museum, state park, something. The other Fridays will be decided during that week due to financial status. We spent 30 minutes coming up with all the free activities we could think of but we both agreed, Friday is for getting OUT of the house.

She's excited about having a "recess" after Math. I'm excited about her finishing her work in a timely way to enjoy recess. Lol. We stopped at Goodwill before coming home and found a used mosaic art kit that still had a lot of the foam squares (mosaics) left in it, paid our $1.50 for this week's art project. We're studying the Byzantine Empire in history and our art project is to create a mosaic, you tell that to a 7 year old and you get a blank stare. I was so excited to find the mosaic kit instead of using paper! Camille said, "I don't know what you're talking about but it sounds like fun!" I'm sure the cashier at Goodwill thinks I'm crazy too, I was grinning ear-to-ear as she rang up our $1.50 purchase.

Isn't the Hagia Sophia absolutely fabulous? Beautiful inside and out. Breath-taking. Okay, here's a link to see it closer and inside. I feel refreshed, the Lord has taken the doubts and worries and vanquished them. Our Fridays have been lightened up and designated, I have faith that the recess will help her stay on task in math, Camille loved the idea of reading when Danny is taking a nap- she was excited to uninterrupted time read to me! She also loved the idea of reading with Danny at bedtime. I've gone through our Bible lessons for the week and highlighted a discussion topic for further character development. I'm toying with the idea of dropping our Bible lesson on Friday and replacing it with a story from The Book of Virtues or Moral Compass by William Bennett.

If you're a new reader, please don't think I've got it all together! I may be intimidating with all this, I understand. Especially if you know that I've done customized lesson plans, we're on a schedule for our lessons and cleaning schedule. It's all God, He's put influences in my life to show me what I should be doing and I've been working hard at doing that and it's making a difference. We tried many different things last year in our first year of homeschooling and although we had a good year, it could have been so much better. I learned leaps and bounds and now I'm just applying what I learned and what is right for us for this year. I'm not done learning and growing by any means, but I've learned the importance of perseverance as well as planting seeds, tending them and having faith we will have a bountiful harvest.

He is the potter, I am the clay.
Jessica