Things I've been thinking about

All right, you, my audience of, what, 2?  Here's a suggestion for you.  Go to the library and pick up a copy of A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille.  And then pick up a copy of Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning by the same author.  What I have learned from these books has astounded me.

Some of you know that I've been homeschooling.  Maybe some of you know that I've been trying to revamp it, that I started out last year with a stressful online school that made me want to puke and then dropped it and have been looking for a better version of homeschool. Well, I've found it.  And it's not a curriculum.  It's a method.  Here are some things I like about it:

• It is highly personalized.
• We wait until our children are ready to learn things before helping them learn them.
• It's not stressful or rushed.
• It's built on inspiring more than requiring.  That means that I need to be educating myself and setting an example of how to learn.
• It helps children fall in love with learning.
• It encourages us to talk with our children - a lot.  We are to find out what they want to do and then help them figure out how to do it, and then we discuss and pick apart.  Have I mentioned that I think it is way fun to talk with my children?  I love it!
• It's built on good books and original great thinkers.

This method has taken everything I knew about education and thrown it out the window and then put it back together in a form that seems so much more natural.  I will admit that for my brain that has been trained in public schools (And please know that I'm not against public schools.  They were such a blessing to me!) has been quite boggled, and it's been a workout to turn my thinking around.  I will also admit that Jeremy and I won't be implementing our homeschool exactly like the DeMilles have because (a. I think just a few of their ideas are a little too far out there for us and b.) I want it to be personalized for our family, which, actually, is what they are asking us to do anyway.  They're just telling what they do, and then they say pray about it and make it your own.

But the real reason why I'm telling you guys to read these books is that I think they can be a blessing to people of all ages.  They are a lot about homeschool, but the idea of getting yourself a great education, public or not, is awesome.  And these books show the way to get a great education.  It explains all the principles behind it.  There are just so many things to learn!  I'm so excited to be learning again myself! I'm currently working on the 7 Keys Certification that Thomas Jefferson Education has.  It's nothing that will be recognized by the state or anything, but it's helping me learn how to implement this method.  I've read several classics along with that first book I mentioned and half of the second book.  Yeah, I'm excited!  It seems very apparent to me that anybody who is feeling stuck in a rut (and even people who aren't) can be blessed by doing the 7 Keys Certification or at very least reading the DeMilles' books.

So there's my sales pitch. Moving on.

Jeremy has a job!  His old boss at the mine contacted him a month or month and a half ago (something like that) telling him that they had a job opening at the mine doing his old job.  He asked him to apply, so he did.  What they were looking for is somebody who can replace Jeremy's boss that's directly above him now and needs to retire soon.  They really are hoping for somebody who'll stay until the mine closes in 20+ years.  I'm not sure how long we'll stay, but they had pretty much singled him out and just went through the formality of posting the job just to be fair.  They offered him the job last week and the next day he was getting his pre-employment physical done down in the valley.  And then he started on Monday.  We did a lot of talking about this before the job was offered.  We couldn't decide.  It seemed like it might be unethical to take the job if we weren't going to stick around when "someone who'll stick around" is pretty much what they're looking for.  I figured we'd know when they made the offer whether or not he should take it.  So I guess we're supposed to stay here for a while.  It helps knowing the size of the salary offer they made to him, of course!  It's more money than he's ever made!  I'm kind of puzzled that we're still supposed to be here, but I'm not going to complain about the salary.  The downside is that he's remembering why he was so glad to leave when we moved to Utah.  He's remembering why he needed to go to the gym every day after work.  It wasn't just for fun.  He needed to relieve stress.  I feel kind of bad about that. :( But it is quite encouraging knowing that we can pay the bills this month!  Yeah, we were able to pay them last month, but our reserves are running low.  I'm thankful that we can pay the bills and build up reserves.  And we can pay down debt and get things fixed in our house.  And we can go to the gym again!  I'm excited to start running on the treadmill again. :)

About a year or so ago our bishop asked us in the Relief Society to start working on Personal Progress.  He said if we'd already earned the award we can earn it again.  I'm finally getting my buns in gear, and I'm remembering why it was a blessing to me before.  It takes real effort and brings real blessings.  I'm thankful!

Timmy has been doing great with potty training!  I had felt like such a slacker for waiting so long, but every now and then we'd try and he just couldn't get it.  I guess we just needed to wait until he was ready.  He isn't 100% yet, but I can just ask him, "Timmy, do you need to go potty?" and he'll smile and run down the hall to the potty.  Hooray!

Brom still isn't walking on his own very much, even though he can.  Just a couple of steps now and then.  He loves it when we hold his hands and run him around, and, yes, I do mean run!  And he loves it when I sit on the floor and stand him in front of me.  He just stands there by himself with a mischievous grin for a few seconds and then takes a step and falls in my arms and giggles.  So cute!  I love that boy!  He loves being in the kitchen with me lately, too, so I need to be better at keeping that floor clean!  Or rather, Benji needs too because that's his job!

And speaking of which, one thing I read in the book I'm currently reading says something like, "If you are a mom and you're still doing all the work you've missed your promotion."  Ha ha!

Well, that's enough for now.  If I think of anything else I'll post it another time.  I'd better!

Important things only

Ha! How's that for a title? I agree. Lame!

So over been thinking lately about all the things I bear myself up over and all the things I worry about, and I had an epiphany of sorts. See, while Jeremy was at Scout Camp, one day we decided to go to the library. In fact, I demanded that we go. We needed time out of the house that wasn't spent running around the store. But as we started up the second big hill the car started shaking and the check engine light, which is always on, started flashing.  In my head I freaked out, but I calmly pulled over and turned off the car. I said a prayer that the car would work fine and that we could make it home safe. Then I turned the car on and we went home. (But we stopped at the store on the way because we did in fact need to go there.)

I decided, though, that that was itand we were going to stay home until Papa got home. (2 more days) I thought about how that's exactly the kind of thing our old van did that made me freak out and helped us decide to get a new van, beside the fact that we needed another seat, of course. It freaked me out driving to the valley and back with such an unhappy car that was, in my mind, liable to explode into flames or suddenly stop where I would get into an accident. So when Jeremy came home I told him what happened, and he said, "Yeah, that's annoying, huh? When that happens, just downshift and you'll be fine." What in the world?! The car was shaking and the bad news light was blinking extra bad news!

It was then as I sat and thought about it that I was taking things too seriously. It's a cranky car, not the end of the world! And that thought snowballed into a cascade of instances where I take myself and things too seriously. It was mental smack in the face. All these things I worry about are not life and death. If something needs fixed I can pray and/or fix it. And if we don't have money to fix it, it can wait. It certainly can't do anything else!

Anyway, that thought has stayed with me, and I've decided I need to keep it around. I need to pare down my list of worries to the ones that are actually important and then do something instead of just worrying. And the rest does not need to be taken seriously!

The end.

One more reason

One more reason to stop reading C. Jane's blog: she is in favor of the Ordain Women movement. I'm so disappointed. Not surprised, but disappointed.

I think one reason why the movement makes me so upset is that they say we're just denying ourselves if we say we don't feel we're mistreated as women in the church. They say that whether or not we feel it, the fact that we're not ordained is trouble that needs corrected. That makes me feel like they are saying I'm defective for not feeling the need for the change they are seeking. I don't like feeling like people think I'm defective. :P

Well, I am happy in the church. I love the callings that are available to me, and I see no cause for change. I don't understand these people who picket for God to change His mind.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is scout camp. Our bishop asked Jeremy to please go because our scoutmaster just moved. It is convenient that he doesn't have work this month. Funny, huh? I'd be lying if I said I'm not nervous about him going. At least I'm not pregnant this time. XD So Jeremy is taking Hyrum and Joshua along with one other boy from our ward, and he'll help haul some boys from second ward too. And they are leaving at 3:30 AM, of all the ridiculous hours.

And while I'm whining, about every day like clockwork I remember that Brom has never been blessed. It kills me. He is such a sweet, wonderful boy, and we are good people who are just trying to be good. I know that God knows it is important to me. I don't know what to think. I'd cry injustice, but life isn't meant to be fair or easy. I talk to Him about this regularly, and all I know is that I'm supposed to be patient. And I can easily acknowledge that He blesses us beyond measure in other areas. I'm thankful for that.

There. I said all that and it feels good to vent. I guess it's one of those days. Tomorrow always feels better. :)

Monday

I think Meme Monday is out.  I can't seem to find any meme questions worth answering. :P

I do want to say, though, that my little sister moved to Wisconsin of all places!  (You know.  The place where they say bayg instead of bag.)  It is much too far away!  I'm excited for her to have this adventure, but man!  So far!

And today I started semi-officially homeschooling Jill.  Timmy joined in because he thought it looked fun.  We'll hopefully keep that up.  I'm hoping to ramp up the boys' schooling sometime soon as well.  I am having a problem, though, because we're running out of money and I need to buy a book that's supposed to tell me what to do for the next step in Thomas Jefferson Education.  Argh!  Well, we'll figure it out.

As far as jobs go, Jeremy applied for a job at the mine as per his old supervisor's suggestion, and we should hear something about it tomorrow.  And yesterday we found out about 3 different positions available at SUU, and I believe Jeremy's going to apply for them this week.  We have a friend up there who knows somebody on the hiring board, and that person said they haven't been happy about the pool of applicants they have for one particular job.  So hopefully that will pan out!  I suppose we'll see.  I know that something's supposed to happen, so we're just waiting to see.  If we end up staying here we'll probably go to Cedar City someday.  The mine pays well, and we'd be able to build up a reserve and pay down debts some more, so that would be nice.  It's just kind of scary not having anything lined up for this month.  And one stinky thing about that is that we will have to start filling out a renewal form for DES soon, and everything is so up in the air.  You know how DES goes when things are up in the air?  It goes like crap.  They want proof of everything until you're about to die and then it suddenly goes through.  But I'm hoping that the crap will somehow magically be minimized this time.

And speaking of no money, about a week ago I was in the kitchen talking with Hyrum, and I told him that we needed to be praying to find a way for Joshua and him to pay for scout camp. I told him that Heavenly Father can make it happen.  So we did both prayed.  I think we got our answer yesterday.  At church they pulled Jeremy out of Sunday School and asked him to be in charge of scout camp this year for our ward.  Our scoutmaster just moved, so I guess they needed someone.  And, wonder of wonders, somebody has come forward who will pay for Jeremy, Hyrum, and Joshua to go!  I believe they're going to Camp Raymond again.  It's such a miracle to me!  I'm so thankful!  It sounds like there will only be two other boys going besides our two.  Scout Camp is next week, so we will be scrambling to fill out paperwork and get the physicals done, but thank heavens it's going to happen!  And thank heavens Jeremy will have something to do that week!  It drives him crazy to be home with nothing to do.

The only bummer is that, once again, First Ward decided to do their own thing for Scout Camp, so Aaron and Joe won't be there.  And Joe isn't going to First Ward's camp either.  Ugh.  Oh, well.  I'm just so happy that Hyrum and Joshua can go and that Jeremy can go with them!  Hooray!

And one more thing to be happy about: we just had our family campouts.  The Badger one was last Wednesday through Saturday, and the Burk one was the Wednesday through Saturday before.  They went pretty good!  One thing that I loved that happened at the Badger one: Timmy saw me go in the girl's bathroom, and he tried to open the door and go in too, but he couldn't get it open.  So he went to the other bathroom and took off his pants and sat on the potty! Hooray!  He kept saying he was in the girl's bathroom.  I think he doesn't know about the difference between girls and boys yet.  He just kind of lumps words together.  (Like we have a book about a little elephant that is called Tubby and the Poo-bah.  So when he sees Winnie-the-Pooh he's not Pooh.  He's Poo-bah.  He's very literal like that, just like Joshua used to be.)

Sunday

Today I stayed home from church with Michael and Brom.  Michael woke up throwing up yesterday morning, and has thrown up off and on since.  He gets headaches a lot in the last few months.  We've come to realize that he is probably dehydrated.  We've been twisting his arm to get him to drink some Gatorade.  What kind of kid doesn't want Gatorade?  I turned on Primary songs for us, and I listened to an address from President Eyring and read some more things on lds.org.  I'm thankful that I did those things, but I still missed church.  I am really hoping that everyone will be fine next week so we can all be at church!  I'm thankful for the difference the church makes in my life.

And speaking of the church, I'm sure you all saw that Kate Kelly, the organizer of the Ordain Women movement, was excommunicated for apostasy.  I've been staying mum this time around, at least online. Jeremy's probably heard way more than he cares to hear about it, though. I think it's interesting how she took it all right to the press both when she received the letter about her upcoming disciplinary council and when she was actually excommunicated.  I'm trying to be nonjudgmental, but I don't agree with her at all.  I have looked over her website and scratched my head over all those people who are being led into apostasy right along with her.  It makes me sad and, frankly, kind of mad.  I don't want to hold the Priesthood and I don't feel like a second-class citizen in the kingdom.  And I think it is foolish of that organization to keep protesting even after the church has issued statements asking them to please stop.  I also like how the church issued a statement saying that questioning is ok and should be followed by looking for answers, but apostasy is when you make your own doctrine and then try to persuade others to follow.  I know a lot of people, and particularly those not of our faith, see this as Mrs. Kelly being punished for questioning, but that's not what is happening here.  We see this kind of apostasy all through the scriptures.  And no matter how persuasive they are, the truth remains that they were warned and forewarned to cease and desist, and that they were preaching against the way the church was set up by God himself.  They wilfully taught things that are contrary to eternal principles.  I can't understand people who picket for God to change his mind.  (He who is unchanging!)  So there's my stand.  I don't agree with Kate Kelly and I don't understand, but I am trying to remember that these people are all just people like I'm just a person, and that they are every bit as much children of God as I am.  I shouldn't be mad, so I'm working on it.  (Really, what have they done to me anyway.  But at least I finally admitted that it makes me kind of mad.  Now I'll just get over it. :) And I do hope that she can someday be received back into the church.  And I hope that some of her followers will see what happened and think again about keeping on.

And one more thing because that's all I have time for.

On the Badger campout it was pointed out to me a few times that our life is quite different from a lot of people's lives. My cousins in particular seem to think I'm supermom or something.  I think I forget that my life is different.  My cousin Michelle said to me, "My favorite was when I looked in the kitchen and you were holding your baby and trying to take a drink and walk while your other little boy was holding your leg."  I guess moments like that are pretty much an every-day occurrence.  I can't imagine my life differently.  When those moments happen it doesn't phase me, but having Michelle point it out like that made me take a step back and think, "Wow.  I guess my life IS kind of different."  And it also made me feel so very blessed.  It is a crazy life, and sometimes it's full of built-in obstacles to absolutely EVERYTHING, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Fathwer's Day!

Happy Fathwer's Day! (Yes, I misspelled it on purpose.  There was this one time a long time ago that we printed a sign for Jeremy's dad for Father's Day, and only after we gave it to him did we discover that it had a w in it.  So that's how Jeremy and I say Father's Day.)

Jeremy said that what he wanted for Father's Day was a clean shop.  He's been so busy he never has time to clean it, and it's been getting really bad in there!  So I took a good chunk of the day Thursday and cleaned it.  Hats off to Hyrum for watching Brom for me while I cleaned!  He's awesome!  I don't know how I would ever get anything done without him!  Anyway, the shop now looks pretty dang awesome, and it makes me actually want to be out there!  That is really saying something.  Just think, though.  The whole middle of the floor is clear.  You can go in and walk straight to the back wall without stepping over things.  Yes, it was really, really bad.  And I only found 1 horrible spider, 2 dead monster cockroaches, and a couple of crickets as I cleaned.  (I was afraid it would be a lot worse, but now that we don't have that little freezer out there we don't have as many scorpions out there as we used to.) But hooray!  And happy Fathwer's Day to Jeremy!  I'm afraid I was lame and didn't buy chocolate to give him today, but I did give him chocolate a few days ago.  He likes to keep a stash of Dove dark chocolate in his drawer, so I restocked his supply then.  Gotta make sure he has chocolate to share with me. ;) There's some Belgian chocolate that they used to have at our Walmart that Jeremy LOVES, but they don't have it anymore.  He says it isn't as good as the Belgian chocolate that he had in Belgium, but it's his favorite.  But he did get a whole lot of peanuts for Father's Day from our kiddos.  That was their gift that they got from Primary.  They made some cute bags that looked like a shirt and tie to put the peanuts in, and they also gave him some pages where they wrote things about their dads.  Jill says that her Papa is old enough to drive and is 4 feet tall, and that his favorite TV Show is The Twelve Dancing Princesses. ;)

I keep waiting for Brom to actually start crawling so I can make the big announcement that he's crawling, but he's just not.  What he does is kind of like Jill's little bum scoot (her substitute for crawling).  He goes down on his hands and knees and walks his hands out and then drags his legs behind.  He's also right on the verge of walking.  Last week or the week before he grabbed onto me and pulled himself up.  He pulls up with very little help, but he doesn't seem to like to do it by himself.  So I don't find him just suddenly standing by the couch or anything.  But he's really excited about walking.  He loves to walk around holding our fingers.  A few times he's just let go of our hands and stood there and looked like he just wanted to take off running!  And just the other day he discovered that Papa and I can hold his hand and walk him back and forth between us.  Today Jeremy and I were sitting about 8 feet away from each other, and he saw Papa there and wanted to walk to him.  So I held his hand and away he went!  And then Papa turned him around and he walked back all excited!  He did it all holding one or both of our hands, of course, but he is so close to walking!  9 months old!