Love Your Neighbor As Yourself

 "The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these." (Mark 12:31 NLT)

It seems like an easy enough concept to understand, doesn't it? But, what about practical application?

We all know how much we l-o-v-e ourselves. Nearly every human's life is centered around our own likes, interests, and wants. "What will I do?", "What do I want?", "How does this affect ME?". To quote from, admittedly, one of my favorite movies, "then I realized how many stupid times a day I use the word 'I'."

Obviously, most people aren't CONSTANTLY self-centered, although there are those select few that you wish would just sew their mouths shut rather than utter one more word about their all-so-important lives. I also realize that this is a very hard concept to follow for two reasons. 1. The world will naturally make you cynical and 2. Plain, good old-fashioned self-protection. How many times a day do other humans just make you shake your head in disgust? Lies, cheating, hatred and just absolute rudeness on the part of the other people will make you feel disgusted with the human race quite quickly. And the second one is just protection of your own heart. If you stop to care about every other person, how often is your heart going to get broken? A lot. You leave yourself open and vulnerable to other people's cruel hearts or you begin to care about people and it hurts when they are taken away from you. This is why I truly, truly believe this is one of the hardest things that God has ever asked us to do and is exactly why Mark mentions that it is one of the greatest commandments.

I've had a harsh, unexpected encounter with the practical application of this biblical principle. For 9 months on Facebook I've followed a page called I Love Liam Lyon. You can go there to read about his amazing story and amazing family, but the gist of it is this; he was born with a heart condition called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. He has battled it his entire life. Since the first of the year I've followed this little boy and his family, coming in contact with them through another of my Facebook friends. It came to the point where I literally looked for his posts throughout the day. His family constantly posted pictures and updates of him and I just LOVED to see them! His smile brightened my day and when he was going through tough spots I worried about him and prayed for him fervently. From January through the end of April I followed him through my friend. Then it got to the point where I kept looking up his page to see what he was up to so I finally just "Liked" his page. At that time he had 25,000 or so followers.

It seems stupid, doesn't it? I truly care for this little boy, almost as if he were my own. In our cynical world, it seems ridiculous. But, I'm not the only one. As of this moment he has 83,906 followers, and the number is growing. And you say, "Chala, you're an idiot. How can you love a little boy and his family that you've never met?" And I say to you, I don't know, but I do. I can't explain it. I can truly say I love this little boy AND his family. They are extraordinary people. They have fought and fought for their little Lyon Cub, prayed and trusted. These people and their son/grandson/brother/cousin/nephew are true heroes. They have fought a disease with cheerful good grace, as many smiles as they could muster, thankfulness for the life of their baby, and faith that God knows what He is doing, even if we do not.

THIS is what loving your neighbor as yourself is all about and I fell upon the true meaning of it unintentionally. 80,000 + people care what happens to a family they don't even know, and hurt for them in their time of grief. You see, the little Lyon Cub lost his battle with HLHS on Monday evening. The only way I would be more upset is if I had lost one of my own children. My heart hurts for them, a family I've never met, but that I love anyway. No, I didn't follow them out of nosy-ness, I followed them out of love. And I follow them still and wish they could know how much I share in their grief. I had hoped to visit the little man one day and bring him a mess of Curious George stuff.

Liam's life was not in vain. I've learned something from him and I know his other followers have, too. I can only hope and pray that we all keep the lessons in our hearts and practice them often. To hug your babies tight and be thankful for what you have. To love other people, even if it seems impossible. Yeah, people can be jerks. You don't have to do the same and it doesn't give you an excuse to lower yourself to bad behavior. While I used to pass over their pages, I've now begun "Like"-ing pages of children battling childhood diseases and other issues. Yes, my heart is at stake because I will undoubtedly come to love them, too. However, my heart will make it and these people need to know that their children are loved, that people are on their side through the battles they are facing and that there are decent human beings out there who don't just look the other direction, as I too often have. Were it your child would you want people looking the other direction?

To Liam's family; he is missed most of all by you, but I just want you to know that the love his followers feel for him is not trivial and is not a lie. He was an extraordinary little boy and I miss him. NO, I never met him! I wanted to, but didn't need to; the fascinating social media we call Facebook allowed me to meet him through you, share in your story and come to care about him. I don't know why God called him home when He did, but I know that God has everyone's best interests at heart and I know Liam is so happy with our Father! I didn't get a chance to meet him on Earth, but he is on my list of people to search out in heaven, because he has changed me.

A baby girl named Charlotte and her family also touched my heart and you can read her story here.

According to Liam's family, his services are Sunday Sept. 9 at 2pm in Poteau, OK. Location pending.

A Child Of Mine (To All Parents)
Edgar Guest 

I will lend you, for a little time,
A child of mine, He said.
For you to love the while he lives,
And mourn for when he's dead.
It may be six or seven years,
Or twenty-two or three.
But will you, till I call him back,
Take care of him for Me?

He'll bring his charms to gladden you,
And should his stay be brief.
You'll have his lovely memories,
As solace for your grief. 

I cannot promise he will stay,
Since all from earth return.
But there are lessons taught down there,
I want this child to learn.
I've looked the wide world over,
In search for teachers true.
And from the throngs that crowd life's lanes,
I have selected you.
Now will you give him all your love,
Nor think the labour vain.
Nor hate me when I come
To take him home again? 

I fancied that I heard them say,
'Dear Lord, Thy will be done!'
For all the joys Thy child shall bring,
The risk of grief we'll run.
We'll shelter him with tenderness,
We'll love him while we may,
And for the happiness we've known,
Forever grateful stay.
But should the angels call for him,
Much sooner than we've planned.
We'll brave the bitter grief that comes,
And try to understand.

Coping; Life will force you to, even if you kick and scream.

Gone, but never, ever forgotten. My Brother-in-law, Harold Kevin Keithley.

I have to admit, I'm having a really hard time with this and I know that goes double for my husband and triple for Kevin's son, two daughters, parents and sisters. I think the 4th of July holiday will forever be ugly for us. At 28 years of age, I've never lost anyone close to me before. I can't even explain the shock I felt when I heard the words of Matthew's sister come across his voicemail on speaker on Friday afternoon, "Matt, Kevin just died." I don't know what else she said. We looked at one another and I said to him, "Did I just hear that right?"

I wonder why I felt shocked? We knew Kevin was ill. We knew he was getting worse. He had been sick for a long time and suffered greatly over it, mentally and physically. I guess we just never expected it to come so soon. His joking, helpful, caring nature lead us to the wrongfully secure assumption that everything was all right. The last time I saw him was at my graduation party and I'm so shamefully sorry to say that I didn't talk to him much. There were so many other people to talk to and he left early because he had another engagement. Had I of known it would be the last time I would see him, he would have been the only one invited. Despite the accuracy of hindsight, it is ugly and painful.

Kevin was my brother. Maybe not by birth, but he ended up in that place when our paths crossed when I became Matthew's wife. Even after he and Matthew's sister divorced, he was always there. He used to constantly ask us, "I'm still your brother, right Matt?" or "I'm still your brother and the kids' uncle, right Chala?" We always assured him repeatedly that we still considered him such. When we talked to the kids about him we still referred to him as "Uncle Kevin".

There are a lot of things it will be hard to do without remembering Kevin. He has always, always helped us move. We are moving again soon and it won't be his help that we miss, but rather his joking nature that always kept us sane while trying to move a large household. Kevin introduced Matthew to rock climbing (with vehicles) and muddin'. Now, Matthew doesn't have someone to do that with.  Every year when we would get deep snow, I knew that Kevin would be the first one Matthew would call and likewise when a car repair was needed. The last time they fixed one of our vehicles they put spark plugs in the van. It was early Sunday morning and I made them breakfast while they worked. I know Kevin loved our kids. I think Kevin loved all kids and he was so good with them. And there is so much more.

He is missed so much. I was out driving Tuesday morning; the morning after his visitation and before his funeral that afternoon. I usually enjoy driving around by myself without the noise of the kids in the background. I talk to the Lord, I enjoy this planet that He gave us, I listen to Christian teachings on the radio. But, yesterday morning everything seemed less vibrant than usual. I remembered how I've heard people say that the world seems a little less bright when you lose someone. I don't think it seems darker, I think it actually is. I don't think that brightness will come back. Kevin took it to heaven with him when his soul departed the earthly body that had failed him for so long on Friday June 29, 2012. I won't see those colors again until I enter the kingdom of heaven.

Like I said, I've never lost someone close to me before. It really makes you reflect. I still believe in the Lord, I still know He is good. I know He is good because a few weeks before Kevin died he found out he had cancer. He didn't tell anyone except his oldest daughter. After all the pain he had already gone through with his sickness, watching him suffer through cancer would have been horrendous. The Lord is good and He took Kevin home before he had to suffer any more than he already had.

Still I reflect. I started wondering about death; what happens immediately after it? As a Christian, I should have an answer to that question. What is heaven like? I know the Bible gives us some limited information about it, but as a relatively new Christian, I've never looked it up. I think I've never looked it up in detail because I have no fear of death; when I die I'm not going to have to deal with this crap on earth any more, only joy in heaven and the face of the Lord.  So, as soon as my classes are over this week I've decided to go on a quest for information about it. Partially for my own benefit, partially for the benefit of others who might be grieving. It bothers me that I don't know if Kevin can hear Matthew or I. Does he know we miss him? He had so little self-esteem, I want him to know we all MISS him. Does he care about those he left behind? Will he know who we are when we join him? I need to find the Biblical answers to these things so that I can cope as my life goes on and I loose others, perhaps others even closer to me than Kevin was. I don't care if the answers I find are in line with what I hope for or not, as long as they are the correct, Biblical answers. Because I know God's plan is better than mine.

I don't know who thinks immortality would be awesome. Even as I'm missing Kevin I think such a person is lacking some sense. Life is tiring and hurtful. As life goes on more and more people that you love will depart for (hopefully) heaven. Why would you want to stay here? The Bible says that we long for home. "For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven;" (2 Corinthians 5:2) I do. I want to be home. One day I will be, but that is in the Lord's time. Right now I still have His work to do. Kevin's work was finished. He is so happy and free right now. His pain is gone, and hopefully God gave him a Jeep to tear around the rock piles in heaven. He never was able to have the kind of Jeep he deserved while living. I do know that our personalities are part of our soul and so I'm sure Kevin is telling Moses stupid jokes and relating obscure facts he learned about wars. God made him that way. In all things, praise the Lord. I don't understand God's timing in this. I know Kevin's kids must really be confused by it all, as he will now miss some of their major milestones in life; graduation, marriage, kids. But I know that God loves Kevin more than we do, and only has his, and everyone's, best interests at heart.

^"No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him.  And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads.  And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever." (Rev. 22:3-5 NLT) 


In Memory of
Harold Kevin Keithley
August 1, 1970 ~ June 29, 2012 

Kevin and Matthew after playing in the mud; 2003

And Then There Were Six!

Wait! Isn't that little diddy supposed to be counting down and not up? Regardless, up in number we go! If you've heard, you heard right; we will be HAPPILY, THANKFULLY welcoming baby #6 in mid-Feb 2013.

This surprise announcement brings a flurry of various activity to our home. We are now on a sniper-style house hunt. We take no prisoners. There will be no mercy. I may just trip you if you get in my way. (Fine. I won't trip you.) Our current house is small for our family the way it stands, but it hasn't been that big of a deal. We love the land and we love being in the country. What drives me insane is that when the kids get rowdy I feel like they are ON TOP of me and I can't get away! I'm thankful for the Lord's provision in sending us to this house. It got us out of the city where our children were playing around druggies and thieves and it made me nervous just to let them go outside. It made me realize that I really DO NOT want to live in the city, ever again, and it brought us to living a cleaner, more cost-efficient lifestyle as far as homesteading goes. However, now it would benefit everyone in the house's sanity if we had more room. I've been ultra-busy lately; tired from early pregnancy and finishing up my first round of graduate classes along with taking the girls to various softball practices and games. I also volunteered to help serve food at our church's summer youth program, which is proving to be SO fun! Children's ministry is right up my ally. Thankfully some of that will be ending in the next few weeks and we will get down to business as far as house-hunting goes.

Another activity that is necessary due to our upcoming bundle is car hunting. Yep, we OUTGREW our current van. So, we will be hunting for an 8 passenger vehicle towards the end of the year. We really want a Honda Odyssey, but we'll see.

We know the Lord will provide a bigger home and vehicle for us. Baby #6 was not a surprise to Him and He already has plans to meet our needs. "I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations."(Jer. 1:5) 


So, somewhere in my busy life I need to find time to research how to properly go organic as far as eating. It occurred to me that I should probably be eating healthier than ever, especially considering this makes four back to back pregnancies. What is the best way to eat healthy? Organically. Obviously, we do some healthy eating already. It is what started our entire homesteading adventure; the desire to cut crap out of our food that doesn't need to be there. We no longer buy pink slime meat, nitrite filled-bacon, etc. BUT, we still buy a lot of yucky stuff. I love to make sandwiches and found out today that lunch meat is one of the most processed foods on the market. I also learned some things about eating stuff that is "low-fat". 


No, this stuff may not cause cancer. But do you really want to gamble with your health, or the health of your kids? That's my big thing. Natural is obviously the best way to go, so just do it and don't gamble with your health! Yes, it is expensive. As much as I would love to make all of my own organic foods, it just isn't possible. We have the chickens for meat and eggs and usually we have a garden. Sadly, we didn't get time to put in a garden this year, but with all I have to do this summer that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. (Seriously, I'm busier than Santa on Christmas eve.) But everything else we have to buy from our local farmers market, our local butcher, etc. 


Doing some research on the subject allowed me to come to some realizations. #1. There is NO reason for me to be buying that yucky processed lunch meat! MAKE YOUR OWN! Go to your butcher and grab a chicken/turkey/whatever and throw it in the oven, whole. (I suggested to hubby that we get a smoker. As you can imagine, he was on board for that.) When it is done cooking, slice it up! TA-DA. You have lunch meat that isn't processed. Sandwiches all around! On me! #2. Low-fat items ARE BAD FOR YOU. This includes low-fat milk. Taking the fat out seems to take a bunch of other stuff that they then just replace with things that are far less healthy for you than fat. So, we will be going to whole non-homogenized organic milk. #3. I'm wasteful. This is kind of my own personal revelation. I sometimes forget about veggies and stuff I buy and they go bad. Sometimes I'll even know they are going bad and still don't get to them. Why am I not freezing this stuff? We bought this huge freezer for our mild version of homesteading and I don't use it to save myself money? I'm going to start chopping these veggies up to throw in the freezer. In a family of 8 wastefulness is never welcome.


Also, I'm going to give bread making another shot. As adept as I am in the art of meal-making and dessert-making, for some reason bread eludes me. Since I'm not one to stop trying when I fail, the only reason I haven't tried again is because I didn't see the point in making one loaf for a family as large as ours. On the other hand, if I spend the day making many loaves, we might not eat it before it goes bad. But, I just found out today that bread freezes! So, a-bread adventuring I will go again! Maybe I'll take a shortcut and buy a bread machine. Hmmmmm. Bread machine opinions, anyone? I don't let failures stop me and I don't typically take shortcuts, but for the sake of cutting down time, I might take a bread machine shortcut.


Another adventure; fruit snacks. My boys love them, but man are they expensive! I buy the little Fruit Smiles in the huge box to try to save money on them. I absolutely cringe every time my kids eat these. They cannot possibly be good for them, but I fell prey to the handiness of them and the kids like them. There simply has to be a homemade, healthy, cheap alternative to them, though. I'm looking into it and will be trying those SOON as well. 


Now my only problem is finding time to find some new and healthy recipes and make an organic shopping list. I've been interrupted like 7 times just during this blog as it is. It's a wonder I keep my thought processes together. Or do I? Hmmmmmmmm


Well, if you've slept through most of the post let me give you the highlights so you can get on with your day;
#1. New baby coming
#2. New baby coming causes frantic hunt for bigger house and vehicle
#3. New baby coming prompts even healthier eating than we were already trying to adhere to; i.e we are going organic. 
P.S Chicken butchering happening this weekend. I hope to create a blog on how that goes! 


If anyone has a good fruit snack or bread recipe, let me know. The bread needs to be nearly fail proof, since bread appears to be the evil stepsister of my typically excellent cooking capabilities. 

Love and Smiles,
Chala 


Check out this food blog! www.100daysofrealfood.com

Puffins (Mancakes?) and A Very Dead Snake!

Ok, so I prefer the former name for these quick little breakfast yummies. They are pancake muffins, hence "puffins". However, my eldest daughter started calling them mancakes, which I personally have issue with. They bring to mind being out chasing ripply men, and somehow it even implies (to me) chasing men that are far too young. Since I am both happily married and far too young to be a cougar, I'm going to stick with puffins. You, however, may call them whatever you like!

Mamas (and daddies, I don't discriminate on the basis of gender!) you are going to love me! I whip these up on mornings when I am in a hurry, get up too late, or we are in horrid need of a trip to the grocery store. That is precisely the reason I made them this morning!
What you need:

~Your favy box of pancake mix
~Your favy syrup
~Water
~Various things for toppings (chocolate chips, strawberries, bananas, blueberries, etc.)
~A muffin pan
~Nonstick spray

Heat oven to 350.
Now, I would LOVE to give you exact measurements for the ingredients, but I don't measure them! I pour some dry pancake mix into a mixing bowl and then pour in a little water and syrup. I mix it until it is a consistency that I like and then spoon it into my pre-veggie sprayed muffin pan. Hmmmm. I WILL tell you that I put in twice as much syrup as I do water and I like to keep it a little thick so that the toppings STAY on top. It really stinks when all of your toppings sink through the mix and end up at the bottom of the puffin. If you are unsure, start out with a little water and a little syrup; you can always add more, but you can't take it out!

Once you have mixed it all up, spoon it into your muffin pan, filling 2/3 full just as you would if making regular muffins. Then top with whatever toppings you prefer. Pop into the oven for 12 minutes and WOOT! breakfast in under 20 minutes! Here are pictures of my puffins from this morning:

Please forgive the horrible picture quality. I'm really going to have to do something about the scratches on my iPhone camera.

Anyway! You may notice that I used chocolate chips for my toppings. As stated above, I REALLY need to go shopping. The boys had just gobbled up the last bananas. No fruit to use here! I made "C" pose with her puffin before she took off with it.

The best part of these? They taste syrupy, but with no syrupy mess! I won't have to be wiping down little hands afterwards. And, I'm willing to bet that they actually end up eating less syrup than they would with traditional pancakes. There is only as much syrup as you wish to put in them!

Are they good for an every day breakfast? Uh, no. Excellent for breakfast on the run, though.

What about the very dead snake, you ask?
Yes, about that. Minding my own business, cleaning the house and getting "E" laid down for a nap when I glance out our large front window. There is a snake sunning himself out there! Granted he was only a black snake, but they still bite and snake bites are nasty and get easily infected. What if one of the kids had walked out on the porch and stepped on him? And, he's been on our porch before. The only reason I didn't get him last time was because he sneakily stayed by the house, and I couldn't shoot at the house.

So, when he started to slither off the porch and into the yard I ran into my closet for the shotgun. Yes, shotgun. I'm no sissy, and I love to shoot. Sadly, I haven't done it in a LONG while, so it took me a minute to get it loaded. (No loaded guns in this house with the kids, and the shells in another location!) When I did, I ran outside. I don't know where he was headed, but he should have gone FASTER. I got him with the first shot, but he was still moving and I didn't want him to suffer so I shot him again. I'm embarrassed that it took two tries, but again, I haven't used a gun in a long time. I can usually out-gun my husband easily, but obviously I need some practice.

I heard a "tap-tap-tap" through the ringing in my ears and turned around to see three wide-eyed faces peering out the window at me. The girls and "E". Well, at least they know their Mom isn't afraid to pull out the gun if needed. Honey, can I have a Baby Desert Eagle?

~Love and Smiles,
Chala

P.S. Still needing likes on this page: www.facebook.com/LifeAfterInfidelity
Helping a friend build a community of healing! 

An Amazing Weekend!

I'm in a hurry, so this one will be short! (House cleaning, dinner, getting ready for church, and lots of homework!)

My Graduation weekend was nothing short of awesome! On Friday, May 18th I graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Education. There was nothing like walking out into JQH Arena with all the other grads. I've been waiting 5 YEARS for that moment and I'm proud my 5 children were able to see me walk. Also my sister, C, and my Grandparents were there. My Grandparents are my inspiration for my college education! I think I smiled the entire time. I'll even smile here~ :-D I couldn't have done it without my husband, who has worked like crazy to support our family while I have been going to school ever since 2007.

On Saturday we had friends over. It was originally deemed a "celebratory BBQ", but after the hubby and I decided that we would rather enjoy friends than make food it became a "celebratory get-together". We ended up ordering all of the food. We had a blast with friends and our friends' children had a blast playing in the sprinkler and chasing our chickens, ducks and turkeys all around. My cake was absolutely gorgeous and so delicious! Thanks to all who came out and I promise we'll do it again SOON! Next time we'll make Matthew grill, though! Also, thank you for all the gifts! I didn't expect them, but I love them all!

Then, on Sunday, we had another BBQ (which was actually a BBQ) at my Mom's house. She made me a super cute graduation cake, too! We had fun with family and everyone (except me) rode my Dad's Harley with him~or without him if they are able to ride!

So, now I have to crack down on my Master's work, which is very in-depth. I had to learn Turabian style in 2 hours flat, although I like it so much better than APA or MLA format. It is so easy to just put a footnote in rather than have to mess with all those in-text citations. I was once told by a Masters student at MSU that it was "So easy, you don't even have to buy your books to read!" Uh, how? I've done nothing BUT read since my courses started last week! For one class in ONE of that class' required books I had to read 94 pages of tiny words! Granted I love it; I've learned so much about Theology and Apologetics in just a week and a half! By far my favorite book is The Popular Encyclopedia of Apologetics as it answers every question you could have about Christianity! I also just found out today that I have to apply to my Ph.D program by mid-January. Yikes!

One last thing before I discontinue boring everyone to tears; there is a page on FB I would appreciate it if everyone would go and "like". In this world today it is unlikely that you don't know someone who has been through an affair. Maybe YOU have been through an affair. Please direct others to this page and like it yourself, as well! It would be a great help to a friend!

www.facebook.com/LifeAfterInfidelity

Love and Smiles,
Chala

Homesteading, Homeschooling.......and all of the other messes I get myself into!

"Hooonnnneeeeyyyyy.....I ruined my Asics!"

This was my whine to my husband a few weeks ago after a hard day's homesteading. I had mowed the yard by myself, thus ruining my shoes. What a perfect excuse to buy more shoes! My hubby had also promised me more shoes if I went out and mowed, figuring I probably wouldn't. For the record, I. Don't. Mow. I haven't mowed but a handful of times ever since I was a pre-teen. This is because of the horrid memory I have of running over a piece of metal when I was around 11 or 12, the metal shooting out of the mower at me, striking a hole in my leg straight down to the bone, filling my high-top shoe (then in style) with blood, and making necessary a painful trip to the emergency room. (One of many in my childhood~remember, I'm clumsy.)

On that same day, I'm proud to say, I cleaned chicken poop out of the coop. Something I never, EVER thought I would be doing. We've never had any interest in chickens. Or turkeys. Or ducks. Yet now we have ALL THREE roaming our yard when the dog is put away. Our Great Dane likes chicken a little too much. That's why we have the giant thing in the first place. Because he kept killing his former owner's chickens. I find that surprising because he hasn't shown any interest in ours, even when a couple of them have managed to get loose. Our flock now consists of the following:

Chickens: 2 Black Barred Rock, 2 Black Wyandotte, 6 Cornish Cross, 7 New Hampshire Reds, and 8 Buff Orpingtons. Ducks: 5 Khaki Campbells (all who appear to be female, which means 1500 duck eggs a year!!!!) and 2 Mallards (these belong to the girls). Turkeys: 2 Bronze Breasted (1 Tom and 1 Hen, they don't go anywhere without one another!) and 1 Bourbon Red.

Whew!

So mowing and poultry-raising. Yep, that's my version of homesteading. Oh, it will get better. Soon it will be time to kill off the Broilers of our flock and that is going to be an interesting day all around.

If we had our own and more land we would probably take this homesteading thing to a new level. Goats, a few pigs.....we've talked about it, but until we buy our own house and have more land it just isn't possible. We've started buying our meat from a local butcher instead of from the store. Seriously, no more pink slime meat. I'm not game. Once I start working I'm hoping to go all organic, but right now it's far too expensive.

*Disclaimer: If you are not a homeschooler feel free to let your mind wander during this portion of the blog. You can check back in later on. ;-)
In other news, we started homeschooling again today. We took the month of April off because I had so much unexpected stuff to get done for graduation this month and trying to get accepted to Liberty for the summer term. We are doing Bible, Lit. and Math and Spelling this month. We should be able to finish up Lit and Math and then next month we will be doing Bible, Science, Social Studies and Spelling. If all goes well we will be done at the end of June and the girls can have July and August off before we start up again in September. I'm excited because we are going to do away with the LifePacs this next year. I've been looking and we are going to try the Weaver Curriculum. We are also going to do Monarch for a couple of subjects annnnnddddd, "E" is going to get some Pre-school stuff! He likes to join us at the table and sit and color while the girls are doing their work, so I figure he will enjoy it. Not only that, but he will be almost three in September and more than capable of starting pre-school work. There is a Horizon Pre-school pack that I think he will like and it will keep him busy. Right now he just GETS INTO STUFF while we are homeschooling, with "I" in tow!

So, May is busy already and it just began. Homeschooling. Daily animal care now. Just offered to volunteer at the church. Graduation on the 18th, a BBQ on the 19th, and my Graduate classes start on the 14th. Not to mention I'm still working hard at losing weight and getting my running amped up for the Color Run in June. Can't wait for that! If you've never heard of the Color Run you should check it out at www.thecolorrun.com. Proceeds benefit  a local charity in each town they visit. In KC it is the KC Ronald McDonald House.

So, I know I slouched during April, but I have some GREAT blogs coming up for you! Food blogs, weight loss blogs, chicken care and slaughtering blogs. My next adventure will be documenting the effects of Jillian Micheals' 14 day cleanse and burn. I'm doing fine loosing weight on my own; 2.5 to 3 lbs. a week sticking to 1200 calories a day through my MyFitnessPal app and running 4-6 times a week. However, I thought the cleanse and burn might be a good way to clean out my system and I hear it gives you more energy. I looked up some reviews and I was shocked to see that most people had good things to say about it. Especially those who were actually dieting and exercising along with it. I figure I'll try it out and if it goes well I'll do it again when I hit my plateau. But, no matter if it goes well or not, you'll get to hear about THAT mess that I get myself into, as well!

Love and Smiles,
Chala

A pic of the smallest members of our flock.

 A pic of my graduate material for three classes. Yipes! I've already started reading, though, because I find it all very fascinating.

Unexpected~My Announcement

Well, I'm not going to lie, my announcement is going to seem lame to some of you and downright stupid to others. I'm okay with that.

To start with; NO, WE ARE NOT PREGNANT.

Although, there would be no complaints here if we were. Only praise given to God for a new little life. But, I'm not addressing any of THAT right now. 

Some of you may have seen my sudden, unexpected (even by me) announcement that I'm graduating this semester with my Bachelor's degree. (Huzzah!) I was previously not supposed to graduate until this Fall, December to be exact. I'm an Elementary Ed. major and I still needed to complete a semester of student teaching to graduate with my teaching certificate. Student teaching is something I've been worried about for a while now. I have 5 kids, two of which are home schooled. How in the world were we going to afford childcare for them? Secondly, I have friends who have been student teachers. They spend ALL their evenings and weekends writing lesson plans. Again, 5 kids, absolutely no time for that. Doing such a thing is fairly unrealistic anyway, because teachers do NOT spend every waking moment writing lesson plans, but for some reason student teachers are expected to. Not going to go on that rant, I promise. (It's a lengthy one.) 

Now, I could certainly put the oldest two back in school and only have three kids to pay for childcare for, but honestly we don't desire to do that. Even then, my husband works 14 hours a day and I would have to be in my own classroom before the girls had to be in school and I wouldn't be able to leave before they had to get out of school. Who, then, would take them and pick them up? I knew we were short on options, but I trusted that if the Lord wanted me to student teach then He would give us a way to get through it. He has gotten us through on one income for the last 5 years I've been in school and I trusted Him not to leave me hanging without a degree. And no child is a surprise to the Lord, so I knew His plans for me included our latest three kiddos, even though they weren't around when I originally started going to school.

So, I swear I wasn't trying to get out of student teaching. I wasn't devising devious plans or making up excuses, or anything. I was simply praying and waiting for the Lord to act. Well, He did. About two weeks ago I was up at 2am nursing "J" when it suddenly hit me; what if I could get out of student teaching? I wasn't even thinking about school when this popped into my brain! I didn't even know if it was possible. In fact, I seriously doubted it. After a few more hours of sleep I got on MSU's website and began my research, which wasn't promising. All of my credits were tied up in very specific Elementary Education courses. Switching my degree plan wasn't going to happen unless I switched to an individualized degree, which seemed a pain and sketchy at best. One thing I did know; with 130 credit hours, not including the semester I'm working on now, I had plenty of credits to qualify for a Bachelor's degree. All I could do was email my academic advisor and ask if there was any way I could graduate without the student teaching portion of my degree. 

I have to admit, I was so scared she would say no and I would have to try for the individualized degree that I didn't check my university email for days. I was ashamed of my cowardice, but at the same time there was a lot riding on her answer. Then there was the doubt; was I doing the right thing? All this time I've worked for this and I'm not going to teach? What does God have planned for me, then? Then, when I had just decided I was going to check my email for an answer, my daughter broke my computer and I had no way to check for several days. (Relief! Oops, I can't check, no guilt for that!) 

Within that time frame I was wondering what in the world I could do with an Elementary Education degree if I did not have teacher certification. Then again, if we were planning on continuing homeschooling, how would I teach anyway? I cried several times, scared about the fact that my educational plan I had so carefully crafted years before was going down the drain. These things were running through my mind as I dropped my daughters off at a church sleepover Friday evening. When I saw the children's pastor come out to greet me I thought, "Hey, that might be a fun job." 

That very evening I was at home, online again after the boys were in bed, researching what I could do in the church with an Elementary Ed. degree. Quite a lot, it seemed, as I gleaned from many forums that I was not the only one to decide that I would rather not enter the Elementary Institution after getting my degree. I saw many who had opted for the church instead and I was going to start my Master's in something. I've always wanted my Master's and Doctoral degrees. So I started researching Seminary schools. (Me?! What in the world?) What I found was there were several Seminary degrees that I could get that would allow me to follow job paths that I have always been interested in and some new job paths I have just discovered. Christian author, pastor, University professor, University administrator, children's youth minister or activities director.......and just like that I knew that I was being led to a Master of Arts in Theology.

I was still unsure about it all and still had not looked to see if my advisor had approved my request. Nor did I know what I would have to do to get out of student teaching. When we got our new computer I finally decided to quit being cowardly and check my email.......and lo and behold I had gotten an email from my advisor; she had ALREADY approved my request to graduate without certification, notified the appropriate individuals and I was ready to go! I literally cried; I'm DONE with my Bachelor's degree! In a span of a few weeks I went from "How will we get through this?" to buying graduation announcements and enrolling for my Masters. It has truly given me a new zest for life and I have felt like a fresh spirit for the past few days!

It's amazing how the Lord works, isn't it? Less than a year ago I was fighting the Lord, angry at Him for something that was man's fault. Then my irrational anger came to light, along with the knowledge of who had really let me down and I begged the Lord's forgiveness and returned to the church. How could someone like me be an advantage to the Kingdom of God? When the Lord is ready to work, he doesn't waste time! In a span of two weeks my whole educational plan has been turned upside down and suddenly I'm planning to do something I'm not even sure I'm capable of (Me, a spiritual leader?! Are we sure we have the right person here?), but I know the Lord will give me strength. 

I have been accepted at Liberty University for my Master's of Arts in Theology. It will take me a year to complete, followed by my Ph.D. in Theology and Apologetics. Don't know what Apologetics is? Well, if you're on the computer you have quick access to google to look it up. And no, I won't be apologizing to anyone. ;-) 

I know I have a long way to go. I am actually scared of this new path. I am by no means perfect and I'm not even sure I'm a good role model, but I feel confident this is where I'm being led. I know there are areas of my life that I will have to work on harder than ever now because I will be a representative of the Kingdom of God (as a member of the church, technically I was already). I am excited about this new journey and I am so very ready to start my Master's classes in May.

Please pray that I have the strength and wisdom to complete this journey.

Love and Smiles,

Chala