Happy New Year!

So funny that it’s been almost a year since my last post.  I am thankful for the recurring mantra I have in my mind, “It’s about the progress… not perfection.”

I am going to keep this post positive even though I am currently surrounded with an almost empty box of tissues and wads of Kleenex surrounding me .  I’ve been keeping Kleenex in business these days as this is our third box! 

I wanted to start today’s post with my SOAP.  This year, our church is reading through the New Testament and I am excited to be part of it.  Today we are on Day 3 and the reading for today is Matthew 5:1-42.

S – Scripture  - Matthew 5:16

In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

O – Observation – Right after Jesus called his first disciples, he went out throughout Galilee and began preaching the good news and healing diseases and sickness.  This brought a lot of crowds and began teaching on the mountainside. This scripture stood out to me because as His disciple, we are asked to show our good deeds not for our own glory but His. I love that people are blessed by our actions and will result in praise to our Heavenly Father.

A – Application -  I am feeling like I really need to step it up on my deeds.  The crazy thing is that I never feel like it is enough.  It can be the little things, like being an encourager and motivator for our boys, my sweetie, and family (my friends are my family too!).  I’ve noticed that I never feel like I have time for everything and that is because I’ve always let everything schedule me rather than me schedule things.  I know that if I put God first everything will fall into place.  That is what I truly need to work on.  I know God has put people around me for a reason and I feel truly blessed that there is a purpose behind that. I hope I can be a blessing to them so that God can be honored in it!

P – Prayer  Lord, thank you so much for showing me today that my actions speak loud.  Let me be cognizant of my actions so that what I do is

Four corners... again!

Slept in cuz we were so exhausted from our trails yesterday. Decided we would head on out to Colorado and go to Four Corners. Let me begin by telling you our story about Four Corners.

10 years ago, my sweetie and I took this same exact trip before we had kiddos. We packed a quick bag and jumped into our small Toyota Tercel and headed off to Utah. It was so much fun! On our way back home we decided to stop at Four Corners. The only place in the US where you can be at four states at one time. As we drove to the entrance, a guard told us it would be $2. Unfortunately we had no CASH and they didn't accept credit/debit cards! Can you believe it?! So we vowed one day to return to be able to cross this off our bucket list.

Today we:

• Stopped at every opportunity during our scenic drive to jump off and take pictures of sites on the road.
• Visited "Newspaper Rock." More on that later.
• Took a picture of Wilson Arch.
• Stopped at "Hole in the Rock."
• Went to Cortez, Colorado... had an amazing lunch in a Mexican Restaurant that First Lady Laura Bush visited. YUM!
• Headed off to Four Corners ensuring that we had cash in hand and nothing and I mean nothing will stop us from entering this time.
• Drove up to Four Corners and.....

IT WAS CLOSED! AUGGHHH!

• Well, I guess there goes that idea! Maybe we'll have to try again. Definitely before 20 years passes us on by again.
• Drove to Chinle, Arizona to check out Canyon de Chelly National Monument. What a scary hike! There were steep cliffs and slippery rocks.
• Took a scary road on the way to the Interstate 40. All I have to say is Navajo roads are SOOO unmarked!
• Made it home by 12:30 am. Loved coming back to a clean and organized home!

Utah!

So we wound up in Utah today! Here are our highlights:

• Drove from Page to Kayenta, Arizona.
• Drove past Mexican Hat Rock, Valley of the gods, and Bluff fort.
• Stopped for lunch in a cute little cafe in Monticello, Utah. Ended up watching a huge snowstorm/blizzard from our window! Wow! Thank God for his timing! Stayed until storm passed (about 1.5 hours) and drove onto Moab Utah.
• Checked in hotel and took off to Arches National Park. 2 National Parks in 2 days! Wow! Hiked two fantastic trails and had a blast! It was pretty cold though!
• Marveled at God's creation. Utah is a beautiful place.
• Ate at the same restaurant that my sweetie and I went to for dinner 10 years ago. Steak still tastes just as good! Yum!
• Went to bed exhausted again!

Will be posting up pictures soon.
Today we:

• Hiked the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Can't believe we live in a state that houses one of the Seven Wonders of the World. I listed the other seven wonders below just FYI (we were wondering too!).
• Saw a California Condor (one of only 75 in the entire Grand Canyon area). Sat on a rock and watched it for over 30 minutes. Amazing sight! One of my highlights since I love seeing rare birds! We were in awe as it stretched its wings (over 9 feet wide) and soared across the canyon. Wish we had binoculars. IT was AWESOME!
• Watched the sun set at Grand Canyon (a must on your bucket list! it was amazing).
• Took a new exit out of the Grand Canyon. We actually drove to the east exit. As we drove for miles we realized how HUGE the Grand Canyon was! Wow!
• Found a hotel in Page, Arizona. Went to bed exhausted!

Can't wait to see where the road takes us tomorrow!

Spring Break! Road Trip!

Boy do I love homeschooling...especially when you can road trip whenever and not worry about what your kid might "miss" in school. So today, after all our Spring Cleaning housework chores were done, my sweetie says, "Mom, what do you say we go on a road trip?" First I start thinking, where, how much will it cost, and should I start booking hotels? And then I realized it was time to relax, let it go and just go with the flow.

This week's progress

Pretty excited this week about our lessons with G
This week, G working on a unit study on China

• Short research on the the country
• reading Chapter Book "Little Pear"
• reading Chapter book "Magic TreeHouse: Day of the Dragon King
• making Chinese lanterns
• copying Chinese characters

I am so excited! This Unit Study is really fun for both of us...

Happy New Year!

I am feeling so great! What a mighty God we serve! A whole new year huh? I know that it has been a while since my last post.. but I am pretty psyched now to continue documenting my thoughts, dreams, wishes, etc.

So today is the second day I actually completed a 30 minute excercise. WHAT?! I actually said excercise! Now most of my fam knows that's a dirty, bad word in my language. It's pretty much something I have never done. I make no commitments here and frankly I don't even know that it is even excersice (See? i am even having trouble spelling the darn word!). I do few things on the wii fit then turn to cox and demand and try one of their 20 minute workouts. Preferably something of a dance routine so I can concentrate on only achieving the moves than even think of the dirty word.

Anyhow, here is what I have noticed... I am feeling more energetic, MORE hungry (what's up with that?) and I down a whole bottle of water before it's even 8am (it used to take me a whole day to even complete one bottle). So I guess that's good. Just taking it day by day. The good thing is that it's done and off my mind now and I can go on to bigger and better things.... Like starting my new year of homeschooling. Off to teach now..

Best wishes,