Gentleness: Actions and Words

For a couple weeks, I had some friends talking about a Gentleness Challenge that had started.When I first heard about it I thought, "whatever", and pushed it aside. I mean, I'm a gentle person, I consider the feelings of others, I try to be sweet and kind.  Last week, after reading several blog posts, I decided to check it out. 

What I read, showed me some things in my life where I'm not so gentle.  There have been times, where I have found myself yelling at my son when it comes to school work, keeping his room clean, and obeying. When I think back on those times, it makes me shudder. I want my son to fear me as a form of respect, but I do not want him to be scared of me. I want him to know, he can come to me and we can talk about anything, without me flying off the handle at him, or stopping him before he can say what he wants or needs to. This kind of action quickly closes the door to open communication and I want that door to stay open for us.

When I read the following paragraphs, it dawned on me, that it is not only children that do this, but adults also. Really, who likes to be yelled at?!

Are you baffled at the fact that your children are not listening to you? Research has shown that when a parent raises their voice at a child – a defense mechanism kicks in that helps the child emotionally protect themselves by tuning out what you are actually saying. When we as moms go on a long rant about something the child has done wrong – we may feel better because we got our feelings out – but our child has not been brought any closer to wisdom and understanding.

Surprisingly, when we harshly tell our children we do not like something they are doing – all they hear is – “you don’t like me“- period. It’s the harshness that accompanies the correction that causes the child to take personal offense and not listen.

For the past week, I have worked on slowing down and breathing. I've worked on my body language and lowering my voice.  You may not be screaming at the top of your lungs, but your body language will show the real reaction you are having.  I've done a lot of praying this past week. I've made sure that I have my morning devotions and prayed before my son begins moving around. My days are much smoother when I complete those two things before hand. Since I've started working on being more gentle, I've noticed a difference in my home.

This week, I'm going to be working on :

Expectations ~ making sure I'm not expecting too much from my son.
Exhaustion ~ making sure I am getting enough rest.
Disorganization ~ making sure I'm prepared.
Bitterness in your marriage ~ making sure that I'm not allowing something between my husband me to filter into my relationship with my son.
Proverbs ~I'm going to work on marking all the verses in Proverbs that deals with communication and speech and memorizing some.

A Lot of Work

Having the freedom of home educating my son is something I don't take lightly. I am the one who chooses the curriculum that is being taught in our home. I am the one who decides when it is time to toss something or to try something different. We are an independent home educating family.

We are not under the control of the government or another institution.  I will say this ~ I am a legal home educator. I do follow the laws of Georgia by sending in all the required paper work. Our family is also a member of the HLA.  I honestly believe that it is the best money any home educating family can spend on protecting their family.

Over the past week or so, I have seen more and more information coming out about Virtual School. When my son was in third grade, I was first introduced to this option of home educating. After looking this over I knew that it was not an option for us. We met two pastor's families that use this type of education, while we were on deputation; I was intrigued by what I heard, but yet a little leery.

Home educating is not an easy job. It takes time and effort for it to work.  As a parent, I spend several hours a week preparing for lessons.  I spend countless hours throughout the year surfing the internet for more ~ more ideas, helps, tips, lesson plans, the list goes on. We start school around 9:30 every morning and we work until everything is finished, usually around 2:00.  I will be the first to say, I wish I had more hours in the day. There are so many things that I would love to be able to work on but at this moment in my life, the most important thing is my son's education.

Last week over at Google + someone had a link to a story about Rick Santorum and how his children were "homeschooled". Before I go on, I am not throwing punches, nor am I putting my stamp of approval on anyone. You can read the article HERE. Of course, most Americans know for anyone to be in politics there has to be some dishonesty (that's a whole different story). You will see it in this article.

This morning, I found a very interesting post written by my friend Betty over at the Peace Creek on the Prairie on the differences of  home schooling and virtual schooling. Be sure to read watch the video and read the New York Post link ~ very eye opening!

If you missed why we chose to home educate, you can read about it HERE and HERE. I am a proud Traditional Home Educator!

My Emily

I am so excited to write this review because it is the first book that I downloaded on to my Kindle Fire that I received for Christmas.

This post contains affiliate links.


My Emily is the second book that I read from the many downloads that I have. It is the first book that I read all the way through and really enjoyed even through all the tears.


This book tells the story of a hurting family, an amazing little girl and a mysteriously faithful God.  Emily wasn't born perfect - so one might think. She was born with Down Syndrome and many would jump to the conclusion that she would have very little hope for a life with any significance. Two years later came the diagnosis of leukemia. What little hope remaining turned to no hope whatsoever - or so one might think.
The life of this little girl, with all its perceived imperfections, had great meaning. Her loving nature and courage touched the hearts of everyone she met. She also taught them how to value their own lives - even with their many "imperfections." 

Matt Patterson tells the story of the life of his daughter Emily. Emily was born with Down Syndrome and faced many trials as a precious little girl. When others thought that she was not perfect, Matt and his wife knew that Emily was perfect; she was created by God.

Matt  explains his emotions and feelings while taking care of his little girl and her health concerns.  His way of writing and expression pulls the reader into the lives and emotions of this family.

No matter what was going on in Emily's life, the Patterson family had One they could cling to. While going through the emotional roller coaster of caring for a child with a disability, Matt clings to the Lord and holds tightly to his faith.

This is definitely a book you do not want to miss out on.

Happy New Year

Quickly Speeding By

I'm in awe of how fast this week has flown by. I still can't believe today is Friday! Just last week, I was looking forward to all that I had planned on doing around the house. I guess having my husband home for two days, helped speed the passing time.

My house is back to normal ~ all of my Christmas decorations came down on Sunday night. I honestly dislike the decorating and undecorating part of any holiday season. It all comes down rather quickly!

I am almost finished with everything that I had planned for this week. I dropped my sewing machine off to have it looked at. I'm thinking that I'll probably wish I spent that money on a new one. I'll know when I get it back. My sewing room has been thoroughly cleaned. I'm a little surprised at myself for allowing it to get in the shape it was, but I'm so happy to see the tables and all the fall and Christmas fabrics put away.

Today, I'll be planning school work. I'm excited about this and I'm dreading this.  Every time I plan, things change. Of course I dislike change! So I decided that I'm using erasable ink! Yes, you read that correctly, I'm not losing my sanity. In the past, I was always a Pencil Mom, but I've moved on to being a Pen Mom and to keep from having to buy stock in white out/correction tape, I'm going to be using erasable ink on the actual lesson plans. Permanent ink on the planning notes, so I can be reminded of what changes I make. I know, shocking isn't it?!

The last thing that I'll be doing either tonight or in the morning, I'll be moving all of my 2010 photos from off the computer and I'll be going through  pdf files that I've saved and never used. My laptop will thank me for this, I'm sure.   

                     I hope you all have a safe Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

One Last Peek

Here is one last peek of our Christmas decorations. Today is all about the tree.

As you recall from my other posts HERE and HERE, I've decorated in a primitive style.  I really love this rustic, colonial, old fashion look!


This year, I placed a bird's nest with pine cones and berries around the tree.

I'm sure everyone has that one Christmas ornament that is never left off the tree, no matter what. This is our ornament; an antique santa. He belonged to my Maw Maw and hung on her tree  as far back as I can remember. My Momma remembers this ornament when she was a little girl. I've done some research on this santa; he is mercury glass and made in the late 20's to early 30's and comes from either Japan/Austria/Russia. I'm thinking he was made in Japan since there is no marking on the ornament or the round piece.

My tree is also decorated with some Pintrest ideas that I came across.  You can find the spool ornaments HERE and the light garland HERE.

This is my Christmas card holder. I also found the idea on the internet somewhere, I can't remember where. All I did was take a long piece of ribbon and fold it in half and tie a knot. I made a bow (not my best craft ability) and hot glued it to the ribbon. I then cut the ribbon loops in half and paper clipped my cards to the strands of ribbon.

~Merry Christmas!~

Another Peek

I started a tradition for my son when he was still in a crib. We love counting down the days until Christmas. We do not celebrate Advent, we just pull a ring every night or every morning until Christmas Day.

Counting down can bring excitement along with OH NO's! (excitement for him, OH NO's for me) In the past, we always cut out red and green paper and made a chain that attached to a paper bell. Well, our bell is beginning to look a little worn, so I decided to make a felt chain and bell for this year.  I love how it turned out. I used velcro for the rings. If I ever make another, I'm thinking buttons would be adorable.

Here is a closeup of the bell ~

Up next is my Children Nativity Scene; a former student gave these to me one Christmas. I love using them every year. That's my Charlie Brown Christmas Tree that I pulled from the woods. The star my husband made for me out of aluminum foil. Those ornaments are actually GRAPES from a cluster that I bought for a project. The little stems were perfect for hanging on the limbs.  I made the Christmas banner with Photoshop and a little digital scrapbook paper. I used red embroidery thread to tie the letters on to the jute string. ** Sorry about the photo... the battery was about to croak when I took this.

Of all my most treasured items that I have, my sewing machine is at the top of the list along with some pink depression dishes that I have.  I collect snowmen and these are just a few. In front of the lamp is a set of primitive peppermint sticks. The banner I made a couple of years ago. I swapped out the ribbon for jute, since I wanted to add a little prim to the scene. The words on the banner are ~ Son of the Most High, Counsellor, Prince of Peace, The Mighty God, Saviour, Wonderful, Jesus, Glory to God in the Highest.