I know I haven’t written much the last few weeks. The kids started school last week and Women of Faith was last weekend. Top that all off with a family cold that the kids brought home from school, I didn’t go near the computer as much last week. Other than the cold that kicked my but last weekend, It was a great week.

Alex started school on Monday. He now goes three days a week. I was a little concerned about this, since in the past he has not been able to handle that much activity for that many days during the week. I have always had to make sure that he was not out of the house for more than two days a week. Any more than that and he started to act out and make life generally difficult. I always just figured it was his way of telling me that this was too much. That is one of the many reasons we decided to homeschool next year. He is just one of those kids who does much better at home in the more relaxed environment.  So I was very pleased that last week he did great all three days at school. He didn’t have any accidents, and I didn’t get any negative reports from his teachers, in fact when I asked how he was doing, they had all positive things to say. We will see if he continues to do this well as the school year progresses, but I am very hopeful. He has matured a lot over the course of the summer. Here at home we are having much less problems with him then we were a year ago. This is how he always has been. I often say jokingly that he is like a plant or a tree. He grows a lot in the spring and summer months and than doesn’t grow much during the colder fall and winter months.  It seems that Lizzie is following in his foot steps in that regard as well.

Lizzie started school last week as well. She goes to her play group two days a week. The first day was a little dicey, the teachers told me that she didn’t listen as well as she should have, but she did much better the second day. She seems to be enjoying school, but she still tells me every day that she doesn’t want to to go back. I think she is more trying to exert some control over the situation.  She likes it and does want to go back, but wants me to know that if she chose to, she doesn’t have to go. It is just her strong willed personality showing through. Nobody makes Lizzie do anything that she doesn’t want to do.

I am not doing a daytime Bible Study this year, nor am I doing Mom’s Time Out this year. I decided that with the kids in school so much this year that adding a weekly Bible Study, and Mom’s Time Out would just be too much this year. I miss all the wonderful ladies that I have gotten to know through both those activities, but I am so glad that I am not doing that this year. I have been so relaxed the last few weeks. I am just not feeling the stress that I used to feel about getting everything at the house done and all the outside activities done as well. We seem to have fallen into a great workable schedule, where I don’t feel like I am neglecting any thing that needs to get done. I also think that is why the kids have been so well behaved the last few weeks. I am not nearly as stressed, so they are calmer and more behaved as a result.

Even though I am not doing a day time Bible Study, I am still participating in a Bible Study this fall. I am taking a study with the women’s group at our church. We are going to be reading the book, “Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World” I am really looking forward to this study for a number of reason. This book being the first one. It is all about finding intimacy with God in the chaos of our busy lives. Something I can def. learn more about. I am also looking forward to getting to know the women in the study more. It is such a great bunch of women, and I have always had a heart for Women’s Ministry. I loved organizing Women of Faith this year and I can’t wait to get started on next year. I found out this weekend that I will be going to a group leader seminar for Women of Faith in Texas this January. It is aimed at helping us to be more effective group leaders. I can’t wait to go and hear what they have to say. I already have several ideas floating around my head for next year. I can’t wait to get started.

All in all, I am a really good place right now. I have a great, awesome, husband who is so supportive of everything I do. I am finally losing this weight that has hung on for years now. The kids are doing great, and I am enjoying being their mom. I also really feel like I have found my place at church. I am doing what it is God wants me to be doing, and hopefully doing it well. I am really looking forward to the rest of this year.

Heather

I am taking a new Bible study this semester at a local church. This is nothing new. I have taken Bible studies since I was pregnant with Alex. I have always felt that it is important to study the Bible, and not just by myself. I need the guidance and input form others around me. I can read and study the Bible on my own all I want, but what is to stop me from reaching the wrong conclusions and going down a path that is not what God intended. That is not to say I don’t read the bible on my own. I try to get in at least 10 minutes every day to at least do devotionals. If I don’t I usually don’t have a good day.

Anyway back to my point. I am taking a parenting study this semester. It is nine weeks long and it focuses on getting to the heart of your children to parent them. I had a very hard time deciding which study to take this semester. There were three options, this being one of them. I finally decided that given the fact that we were experiencing some behavior problems with Alex, and even Lizzie, that the parenting is probably what I needed to take. Now I am starting to wonder. We are now four weeks into the class and I am really not getting anything out of it at all. It is very frustrating. I have never felt this way about a class before. Usually by the end of the first week I have already learned something and can’t wait until the next class to come back and learn more. This is not the case with this current study. I go every week hopeful, and come away every week disappointed. Usually whatever they are talking about is something that I am already doing. The topic this week was discipline. The main point was that we are going to have to discipline our children. Well no kidding, you mean that our children are born with the same sin nature that we have and therefor are going to do things that are not right or what is the best thing for them. And get this that we as their parents need to correct them. Get out of here. I mean really, are there people out there who don’t know that children have to be disciplined. The speakers also said that we need to have a discipline routine for our children and that it needs to start with words, rather than action. Again, who wouldn’t start with words. I commonly make it a practice to send my children to time out without first giving them a warning and telling them the correct thing to do. Time out is another big thing they talked about yesterday. Apparently the speakers don’t like time out. I personally have no problem with it, when it is done correctly. The speakers talked about using a break to help the child get their emotion under control. For me that is time out with just a different name. I don’t use time out as our usual punishment, it is a way for the kids to sit back, think about why they got in trouble and suffer the consequence of missing out on a fun activity while they are in the time out spot. So for the second week in a row I have come away from the study with no new knowledge. Everything that they talked about was something that I already do.

The other thing that I find hard about this study is my small group. Normally I am at least indifferent about my small group. This is the first time I have not liked the women in my group. And it is not all the women, in fact now that I am writing this It is really only a few of the women. One in particular is one of those people who talk nonstop. She is the table co-leader and I can tell this is her first time, so I am trying to be patient. However several times yesterday I had a point to make and by the time I was able to get a word in she was four topics away from what I was going to be making a point on. It was very frustrating. I don’t feel like I am connecting with any of the women at the table. That may be due to the fact that I have to come late from dropping Alex off at school, so I am missing out on the first fifteen minutes of the study, which is fellowship time. Since I do come late there is never a chair available at my table, so overall I am just feeling very down about the whole study.

Oh well, I will have to push through this. I am sure that if I keep at it, God will show me something, even if it is just that I can get through a rough class.

Heather