Kindergarten Registration

Yes, I said it Kindergarten registration. Seriously, school every single day next year? 8:00-3:45 plus after school programs. Where did my baby go? I just can't even believe it. We went last night and toured the Pease Magnet School where Gabe will be attending next year. It was very over-whelming for me. We were running late so we missed a bunch of the information and then they had a time where you could go tour the kindergarten classrooms. We stayed behind so we could get him registered so we missed a bunch of the Q & A time but we got the gist of it all. They would deter a lot of questions to when they have the Meet the Teacher night in August so it wasn't a big deal. They have 3 monolingual classrooms and 1 bilingual classroom. They use smart boards. They have fabulous after school programs that are all free that we can take part in. Once they leave in 6th grade they will know enough Spanish to get credits for it in Jr. High. I think it made Gabe excited for next year and I am excited to be involved with his school. I am super excited that The Hicks Family will also be attending there so we can have a little familiarity. The only bad thing is that it is on the other side of town so it will be a haul each day. I am sure we will adjust and get used to it.

For God is not a God of Confusion but of Peace!

I have been wanting to blog about this since we made our decision to take our house off the market but we have not stopped since then. We took our house off the market on Friday night and then on Saturday we of course did a bunch of work in the yard, cleaned out our shed, and were finally at rest with the conclusions we came to. At about 8:00 at night we heard a knock at our door and this guy was standing their in a Marine's t-shirt asking us if this was the house that was for sale? He saw the sign up against the fence (that we removed) and they drove through the alley and saw the back yard and loved our house. He begged us to change our mind and that if they saw it a week ago that it would be under contract. We stumbled for words as Bill & I kept looking at each other now not knowing what to do. We stayed with our original decision and told him no that we loved our house and that we decided to stay since our son got into a different school and what not.

As we closed the door and said bye to the guy we were like okay God what the heck is up with that? So, we tried to seek some advice from other people and we just sat down and weighed out all of our pros and cons and we really do like our house, we don't want to move just to move. We were at peace with it all day, excited for the next chapter here and then this confusion.

We had to remind ourselves, "For God is not a God of disorder (or confusion) but of peace...." 1 Corinthians 14:33

Settling Down Again

We made the phone call and made it official...our house is no longer for sale! We took it off the market as of last night. It has brought us such peace and a breath of fresh air. We can have a mess, live life freely, and not be tied to someone else's schedule or date book. Ahhhhh! So we got up this morning and walked through our back yard as I scarfed down my multi-grain cheerios and Bill his coffee as we raced through all the new possabilities and potential our house still has. It felt like we just bought our house all over again. We broke the news to Gabe and a huge smile came across his face. I think he was happy with the decision we have made too! So, we took the morning to clan out our shed in the backyard as we are in search of our summer clothes and we brought some things back into our house that we de-cluttered so we could show the house.

I called my Dad to help us plant some flowers along the shed and around our tree. Then I transplanted some flowers from our smaller front flowerbed to the bigger one along the length of the house because they were getting too big where they were. We thought we would tackle putting in some more sod but by Dad so kindly offered to stay and help us out since Bill hates to do yard work and doesn't really know how to lay sod. :-) Bill is going to paint their bathroom today in trade of his time in laying our sod. It seems fair, right?

Here are some before pictures.

Here are some after pictures.

And we realized that we had a sunflower growing along our back fence from seeds we planted last summer. Neat, huh? I think we are going to add the rest of Gabe's sunflower plants back there.

Well, I am off to purge, clean & organize the craft closet.....

Summer Memory Verses

So this summer along with learning to read we will be memorizing some bible verses with Gabe. I feel like he is old enough now to really start doing this and understanding God's word on a little bit more deeper level. We are our third way through the Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones

and it is by far the best kid friendly bible we have come across. Thank you Tony Shupp for giving it to us. It is great! We have had many great conversations about God's word with this book. Now we are getting to the point where Gabe will recognize the story just by the pictures.

Here is a list of verses we are going to be working on.

Psalm 107:1

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.

Matthew 7:12

Do unto others what you would like them to do to you.

Romans 8:38

I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.

Colossians 3:20

Children always obey your parents, for this pleases the Lord.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Isaiah 40:31

But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

Please share any verses that you have enjoyed learning with your kids!!!

Season of Change

So the past few weeks I feel like I have been stuck in the middle of a cyclone. We have had so much change going on that I finally feel like I can gasp for air. It started out with just the business of life, and any free time we spent working at my parents house, and just the added things to any normal schedule. Well, then before we knew it we were moving my parents out and into their own house. Then my FIL came to visit. He is back home (to NY) now. It's the last week of school. Everything around me is coming to an end...MOMS group, Preschool, T-Ball. I feel like we are going through a huge season of change. My kids are adjusting to my parents not being here 24/7 and then having Papa come and go. Life is just busy! Nanny hasn't been around much because she was watching someone's kids for the past 2 weeks and I know Gabe misses seeing her but she is quite consumed with her house right now. We are exhausted from the roller coaster ride of our house being on the market. The hills of hope and anticipation followed by disappointment ride needs to end! We are ready for change in that area.

We are also ready for a spiritual change and digging deeper into the word. We are both at similar places right now spiritually...we just need a change! This summer we are going to do just that. Dig into the word. Gabe & I are memorizing scripture together over the summer break....which I am super excited about. I am also going to work with Gabe on how to read. I am trying to get all that organized and will post what I am doing soon.

On a good note Gabe got into the magnet school. Just not the one we were hoping for. The last of our 3 choices in fact. But we prayed about it and applied to all 3 and asked the Lord to put him into the best one for him and we feel like that is what He did. So we will trust in Him that He has a plan and purpose and that He really does have our best interest in mind.

I look forward to what the summer will bring through the many seasons of change we have to still journey through.