Hello grippedbyHisgrace2!!! Welcome to the Homeschool board! I'll have to check out your intro!

I'm just popping in to say Hi to everyone. More computer problems so I'm using Husband's while I can; he is leaving for Vancouver this afternoon. My son is sending the MacBook in again. Apple promised to replace it this time; we'll see.

I'll probably be off until something can be resolved here or Husband returns with his computer, or Son leaves his home for me to get online...

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the snow!!! (We actually got about 4 inche!s!!!)

Many Blessings

We're starting to settle in here a little better. I got in touch with a lady who leads a homeschool co-op here and I think we'll be starting that next week. Each of my girls will take one class then either volunteer to help or do the homework room the other hours (since their classes are not at the same time as each other). Next year I hope to get them into more classes there, but since we're starting late in the year not everything was still available. My main purpose for this, though, is for them to make new friends and get us all plugged in to the homeschool community here, so this will work well.

Today we're meeting our new orthodontist, so we should get our youngest back into her appointments soon.

No snow here, Quiver! It's probably close to 70 degrees out there today. I did hear that we're supposed to get an "unexpected weather change" soon but I don't know what that means. One thing I've learned about Texas weather this time of year is that it is very unpredictable! Freezing one day, warm the next.

I hope everyone is doing well.

We took my youngest to the orthodontist on Wednesday. It was supposed to be just for a consult, but we decided to go with him and he went ahead and gave her first appointment while we were there. She goes back on Wednesday to get some braces removed and replaced, and a couple of new ones put on. We were very impressed with this doctor and his whole staff!

Today I had my doctor appointment and I really liked the doctor I saw, too. She put in a referral for me to see a cardiologist, which I was supposed to do in Florida before we moved. I should have that in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime I go back next week to have some lab work done so then I'll see how my cholesterol is doing, among other things. The facilities at this base seem to be really good so I think we'll be happy there.

The girls have all not been feeling well lately so we haven't done much school. Plus my hubby was off today to go to the doctor with me and we never get school done when he's home. Monday he's flying to Washington, DC, so he'll be home in the morning until he leaves for the airport, so I doubt we'll get much done on Monday, either. Hopefully we'll get back on track by Tuesday, though.

Lori.

Glad you are finding good support there in your new area!

Please keep us in prayer I could right a book about all the struggles we are going through,although it wouldn't be a very good one

Lucinda,
But it WOULD be a good book to write about God's faithfulness in good times and bad. A story of hope ....
Christine

I have to share some praises.

One very BIG one is .... We have a pretty good relationship with the local library and were blessed by an opportunity to buy two old imac computers and tons of educational software for pennies. My dh has been involved with various MACs over the last two years and has got these old ones working nicely. The week before we hadn't even enough money to grocery shop and were realizing that next year we could be making as little as 20- 25k with a mortgage and four kids! We wondered would HS be effected too? But the Lord is faithful. And I have a lot of hope for our future although it has been frustrating.

Last week was a real challenge in our already unstable financial situation our van broke down _ the engine shows major damage long story but again the Lord is faithful to work the details of our lives out and that includes needed transportation.
My sweeper seemed to have been broken too. I preformed " surgery " on it with no success last week. Today however I tried once again to see if anything was stuck in the hose - this time I used something longer than our broom handle.... Well, a piece of packaging tape had been sucked up and collected a lg amount of carpet and dust fibers. So the sweeper has been serviced inside and out :^)
At least the boys will remember to be more careful -hopefully- cause they are gonna be the ones " practicing sweeping " for the next two days - this place is dirty! One week with no sweeper looks and feels awful.
I also recently started a yahoo group for Quiverfull minded families the ladies that have joined have been such a blessing and great prayer support.OH_QF@yahoogroups.com

My dh and I have had some deep talks and that is always good.

He has been just run down he still is at the same job but the work schedule is crazy in the last week he has worked every shift it really makes things off kilter when that happens and we pray it won't go on like this for long. He is also feeling actually sick off and on - he had a fever the other day and had to stay home from work. That is very unusual for him.

Please pray for our strength. And a deeper walk with the Lord to develop through these hardships.
Thankfully hopeful,
Jacinda

Hi all,
Things are going okay here.

Jacinda, I've been thinking about you lately. How are things going? Your last post sounded like you've overcome a lot of challenges lately.

My hubby is in Washington, DC, all this week. I've talked to him each evening and he's doing okay, but not getting a lot of sleep. He's been working 10-hr days (not unusual for him), grabbing a sandwich for dinner, then going back to his hotel. Last night the hotel had a fire alarm go off and they evacuated the whole building. He didn't get to call us until around 9:30 PM (our time, 10:30 in DC), which was about 3 hrs later than I'd expected. But he's on the home stretch now with 2 more days to work there and then he flies home on Saturday.

The girls & I have been sick off and on so not getting a lot of school work done. Aly has been working on her Latin lessons and trying to get caught up. She was taking Latin at our co-op and now is finishing the course via correspondence. I'm not sure how that will work out, but hopefully well enough for her to at least finish Latin 1.

My son is working in a new job and that's going pretty well. He has regular hours, which is nice, and is getting full-time hours so that's good for his budget. He has to be at work at 6 AM and gets off at 2:30 PM. One week he's off Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday but the next week he's only off on Wednesday. That puts him working 6 days straight every-other week, which he doesn't like, but I think when he gets his first paycheck with all those hours on it, he'll feel better about it. It's helping our routine to have him working during the day so he isn't here interrupting school, but it's hard when he's off on Wednesdays. I'm still not sure how that's going to work out. We have co-op on Tuesday (if we can ever get started with it) and it's very hard to get school done when he's home, so it looks like we'll have Monday, Thursday & Friday to get the majority of our work done. But we'll work it out, eventually.

We've tried for two weeks to start at the homeschool co-op, but someone has been sick each week. We'll try again next week and hopefully that will work out.

Today I'm being brave (or stupid ) and taking all three of my girls to the mall. We haven't been there since we've moved and they're very excited about it. This is one of the smaller malls in San Antonio, but bigger than anything we had in Brevard County. I went there once with my hubby and I know the girls will enjoy it. We have a repairman coming this morning between 8 & 10 AM, but assuming he is finished we'll be heading out around 10. I hope to be home by lunch time, but the girls are hoping to make it an all day event.

I guess that's all my news. I hope everyone is doing well. Oh, I almost forgot, they're supposed to pour the foundation on our house the week after next and have construction materials delivered to the site on March 19. Hopefully by the end of March we might actually have walls!

Hi, Lori,

Nice to hear from you.

Sounds like you all have gotten sick again hope It passes soon. We had our share of sickness
this mid winter and am hoping we won't have anything until spring allergy season LOL

My dh is the one that has really had it rough he has been on every work shift over the last several weeks, every time his body gets regulated to getting decent sleep then the shift changes.

Yes, please keep us in prayer there are too many things going on to list here. Thankfully some really good things as well as the frustrations.

Hope you get back on your schedule. We had a neat president's day. I'll try to post what we did. Did you ever hear of Thomas Jefferson Biscuits?

Jacinda

Our sales rep sent us photos of our house (lot) today. They poured our foundation! We weren't expecting that to happen for at least another week, so they're ahead of schedule. I'm hoping this is an indication of the way things will continue to go. We're planning to go out to see it in person next weekend.

We're all still fighting this virus or whatever it is. Aly stayed home today and still has a headache and just generally doesn't feel well. She was running a low-grade fever yesterday but that's gone now.

My hubby got home yesterday so we're all happy about that. My sister left today for a business trip and won't be home until Thursday, so we have her house to ourselves for a few days.

Overall things here are good. I hope everyone else is doing well, too.

We started at the homeschool co-op yesterday and we all enjoyed it. Aly was a little disappointed that there aren't more high schoolers, but they told us they have some new families starting in the fall that have high schoolers so she's glad about that. The other two girls loved their classes and have already started making friends. I think this is going to be a great group for us to participate with.

Today we have grocery shopping and an orthodontist in the morning, need to make an appointment for one of the cats to see the vet (now even the pets are getting sick!) and we hope to get to the mall this afternoon. I'm not feeling great myself so that might be too much for one day, but we're going to try.

What is everyone else up to?

Well, our visit to the vet yesterday was a little disappointing. We took the cat in because she has a cold. What we found out, though, is that she's a lot sicker than we thought. She's lost almost half of her body weight (from 16 pounds down to 8.5 pounds) in the last 2-3 months, and she has a problem with her liver. The vet recommended we take her to a specialist, so we have an appointment tomorrow morning. It doesn't sound very good, but I feel like we at least have to see what the specialist says. This is Adana's cat, and she is very upset to say the least. I'm praying it is something that can be cured, without spending a fortune. But the reality is it may not be curable, or the cost may be prohibitive. For now we're just taking it one step at a time. The cat does not seem to be in pain, but she won't eat, and only drinks a little water. I measured her food and water yesterday so I'd know how much she was taking in. She at no food at all, and the water measured almost the same level this morning as it was yesterday. I know she drank some because I saw her do it, and she's still using the litterbox (to wet). But she's obviously not a well cat. I had to tell Adana what the vet said this morning, and then comfort her when she cried. She's doing better now, but I know she's scared. I'm debating whether or not to take her to the vet with me tomorrow. Part of me says no, she's too young to deal with that (if it turns out to be bad news). But part of me says it is her cat, so she has the right to be there if she wants to. I guess we'll decide tonight. Her appointment is at 8:30 in the morning. I'll let you know how that goes.

We saw the vet specialist yesterday morning. I really like this doctor! But sadly, our cat could be very ill. He said without further tests, he can't be sure what is wrong, but we discussed all the possibilities. The least serious, and the only one we can really do anything about, is that she could have an infection that can be treated with antibiotics. Everything else that could be causing these symptoms would require hospitalization and/or surgery, and we just can't afford that for a cat. So I told him we'd do everything we can do for her at home. He gave her an antibiotic that I give her twice a day, and some special food we have to put in the blender to feed her with a syringe. She's taking it amazingly well! He wanted to start her at 10 ml, four times a day, and work up from there. She needs to be eating a full can or two of food each day. Yesterday she ate (drank, really) 85 ml in four feedings, and today she's already had 90 ml and she has one more feeding left. She should finish her first can of food today, and may be able to eat a whole can in one day tomorrow. She doesn't fight us much at all, and seems to know that we're trying to help her. Already her energy level is improving, and once today she tried to eat "real food". She didn't do it, but at least she tried, which is more than she's done in the past week or so. So that's our big news -- playing doctor to the cat!

We went out to see our house today. They have started framing in other houses on our block so they should be getting to ours in the next few days. It's so exciting to see it actually being built!

We're still fighting allergies here. I think I must be allergic to Texas! But I'm keeping it pretty well under control, so I sound a lot worse than I feel.

Hope all is well with all of you!

Hoping your kitty makes it. Could she have been ill from all this about petfood contamination? I had to double check what our kitties & doggy are eating.

Sorry about your allergies. I just heard on the news that the peak of oak pollen season is just over so its downhill from here. I was so allergic to my beautiful 30yr old oak tree. I've only had one bad year of the infamous cedar-fever. Try eating local, raw honey to boost your immunities to the local pollen. That's worked for me.

I'm happy to report that our kitty is doing well. There was something wrong with her liver, but she only needed antibiotics and she is much better now. She's still on the antibiotics for the rest of this week, then she goes back on the 12th for another follow-up appointment. I did hear about the pet food recalls and checked all of ours, but none of what we have was effected.

I don't know what I'm allergic to but it definitely comes and goes. I'm going to start tracking what pollen counts are high and see if i can figure out what it is that's bothering me the most. I've never heard of eating local, raw honey, but I'm willing to give it a try.

They're supposed to deliver the materials for our house tomorrow, and hopefully start building the frame before the weekend. They were scheduled to start building in March, but when the original materials came in they were defective and had to be sent back and reordered. That was our first delay, and hopefully our last. We're all very anxious for our house to be built, but it will still be another 3 months or more before it's finished.

Here's a brand thats found in local TX stores http://www.fainshoney.com/ Its from the Hill Country so it helps with some allergies in this area. I get Walker Honey from Rogers, TX now because its a wee bit closer to where we are.

We talked to our sales rep about our house yesterday. The framing materials were delivered earlier this week and they have started framing in our house! He said he thought they'd have the whole frame done, including the roof, by this weekend. We're planning to drive out there tomorrow and see what progress has been made, take more pictures, etc. I'm not sure what the next step is, but we're praying things continue to move along on schedule (or even ahead of schedule would be nice!)

I'm still dealing with the health issues that started back before we moved. Everything seems to be going well, though. I had some more heart tests done but don't have the results back yet, altho' the tech who did my echo yesterday said everything looked good to her. I'm planning to schedule a follow-up appt with my regular doctor soon so I can talk about everything with her. The cardiologist wants me to stay on the medication for another year (YEAR!!) and then if everything is going well I can come off of it. I'm hoping he'll let the year start in December when I first started taking it, instead of in March when I saw him.

My son is making his plans to move back to Florida. He'll be leaving here April 23. His last day to work here is the 21st then he starts at his new job there May 1. In between he's attending a youth conference with his church, which is part of the reason he's leaving in April instead of staying until we move into our house.

I hope everyone is doing okay. It's been pretty quiet on here lately!

Hi there- I'm new to computers and this is my first official "chat"... I've been hoping to connect with other homeschool moms since two of my friends who also school have moved away, and another will be going to a private school in the fall. I have two boys, 2nd grade and kindergarten. We've had problems lately with the boys arguing over such trivial things, like who looked at who, who sits where at the table....I'm sure you other moms know. I'm open to any suggestions, time outs aren't effective. I feel like I'm living with the grumbling and complaining Isrealites and its getting rather "dry" here in the wilderness!

Hi mamahooks,
Welcome to the homeschool forum! I can definitely relate to what you're dealing with. When my kids were younger they fought over the smallest things a lot of the time. It could get very frustrating!! Someone suggested something to me that seemed to work well. If the kids were fighting over things like who sat in what seat, they lost the privilege of making those choices. So instead of them deciding where they sat, I would assign them seats and they no longer had a choice. If they couldn't be in a room without fighting with each other (fighting over who is looking at them, touching them, etc) they lost the privilege of being together and would be sent to separate rooms. We always phrased it that way, too -- You lost the privilege of ... because your behavior shows you can't handle it. They could earn back those privileges by behaving responsibly. It was hard to enforce at first, but well worth it, and it taught them to make better choices. I hope maybe this will help in your situation.

Lori Thank you for the advice. It is very practical and was an encouragement to me. I woke up with thoughts of enrolling the boys in private school in the fall, which is not the Lords will for our family. I immediatly dug in to my Bible and Proverbs 3:5-6 fell afresh on me for this situation. I just stumbled upon this site and the added encouragement was an extra measure of faithfulness from the Lord that leaves me in awe. He is so good and faithful even when we are not. Oh praise Him! Jessica Hooks

Hi everyone, I am new to the forum. I'm excited about joining. I homeschool four children David 12, Julianna 10, Preston 8, Noah 5. I've been homeschooling for 3 years going on 4 and I still feel like I don't know what I'm doing sometimes. I thank God that He's always there to encourage me some way or another. I am hoping that this forum will be one of the ways that He does that. Thank you all for being so willing to post your thoughts, ideas and experiences as homeschoolers, I know I really appreciate it.

God Bless You All,
Ermi