His Grace Academy In Full Session

What is His Grace Academy you ask?!  Well that is the name of our school.  For it is by His grace that we were saved and by His grace that we are home schooling our children.  I need His grace and mercy daily as well as His strength and guidance as we walk this road.  This will be our third year home schooling Jaron.  This year he is in 8th grade.  My goodness time really needs to slow down!  It is the 2nd year of home schooling the other three diaperheads.  So far we are doing great!  They are focused and ready to go.  Now give us a few weeks or months and I may be dealing with other issues.  But so far things are great.
   We are doing things a bit different than last year.  Last year I tried to get every subject in for each kid and I was so stressed and exhausted that the kids even were starting to hate school.  Which is NOT what I want for them at all. So this year we have gone to what I could call block scheduling and breaking up what we do through the week so we can spend more time on each of the subjects.  SO far it is working and they are enjoying it.  Although it is the toughest on Kris.  Part of his personality and goes with autism is the need for a set schedule daily.  Well our days are mixed up and so he is a bit concerned but we stress to him that life has lots of twists and turns and you can't always live by a rigid schedule.  So he is learning to bend a bit more.  It's tough but once he figures out our schedule he will learn we do have one it's just different than last year.
So here is to a new school year!  Good luck!

We have 8th, 6th and 4th graders this year!
Oh and two little mascots - my parents dogs Reggie and Peggy.
Well when we are with them at their home.

Changes

Right now our family is going through a lot of stressful changes.  Not only are we in the process of finding a house to buy but we also have the maintence of the home we are renting (have to finish painting) on top of home schooling (Monday is our first official day) and then there is youth ministry and just daily life. I am tired just thinking about it and I haven't even started school stuff with the kids yet. This whole house hunting thing is really over whelming.  We have dreamed of owning our own home since before we got married. We have been praying about it for over a year and finally decided to just take a leap and see if we could qualify for a loan. Well we have qualified for a USDA Rural Housing Loan.  It is primarily for low income families and we fit that category right now.  Anyway, so we got pre-approval because I do not want to find a house and then be told sorry you can't get a loan and not only crush our own hopes but the hopes of the seller.
   So we have started looking for homes and it has not gone all that well.  In fact I have been looking for 8 months via the internet, newspapers, realty books.  I have found many I like but when we drive by them they look terrible or we get info from the selling realty and find out they have leaking roofs, plumbing issues, mold or other major repairs that need to be done.  To say discouraged is an understatement.  BUT GOD!
  I truly believe God is going to guide us to the right home for our family.  I have no doubt about that.  I just need to be patient....there's that word again!  Geez I really do not like that word but I do trust that God is in the back ground working all things for good according to His plan for our family. It still isn't easy but I am praying we will be in our new home by Christmas.  That would be great!

Summer

Summer is coming to an end.  In just two weeks we will start our third year of home schooling.  Not sure where the summer went but it definitely has been a strange one.  Weather has been unusually cool and full of rain. My parents who generally have stayed two weeks out of the summer is staying for four months this year and we all love being able to see them every week.  Their summer home is about an hour away in the eastern mountains of KY.  It is beautiful, quiet and relaxing there.
   Curriculum is bought, scheduling has begun and activities planned.  The boys will be taking a few classes of wood working and power tool lessons from their grandfather and Sara will be working with grandma on sewing a quilt.  All of them are excited!  Memories and school lessons all tied in together.  LOVE IT!
   This summer the kids have been excited to watch our veggie and sunflower garden thrive and grow beyond what we expected.  We have been able to bless our neighbors and friends with zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, banana peppers and cucumbers.  We also have enjoyed green beans ourselves.
   The most exciting part for me, besides the fresh, pesticide free, organic veggies has been seeing all of the different birds enjoying our variety of sunflowers. I had no idea we would have so many different colors of flowers. Just beautiful!

Male Golden Finch

Beautiful male cardinal

Female Golden Finch