Achieving something always feels so good, doesn’t it? Even a child can appreciate the feeling of working hard and meeting a goal!

My son has been working for 3 months to earn his first colored belt in karate. And he has been working hard. On Tuesday, he achieved his goal. I haven’t seen a smile on his face THIS big in  a while.

As we left the studio, he told everyone that walk passed him “I’m a red belt now!”.

I am glad he was doing, it saved me from having to do it for him

I miss you my sweet little blog ……

Oh ahem, excuse me. I was just talking to my blog. {blush}

When we found out about my husbands illness, I thought there was no way I could blog the same again.  And at the time, I really couldn’t. I was too steeped in grief.

But as the weeks have worn on, every now and then something would come up and I would say “I should blog about that” and then talk myself out of it. One night I said that to my husband about a book I read. He said “Why don’t you then?”. I was silent for a moment and I told him “I can’t, because you got sick and it seems so vain”. He laughed and said “Honey, life still happens”.

I have been thinking a lot about that. And you know, he is right. I still have a house to clean, dishes that get dirty, suppers to cook, children to train, a husband to love. Yes, life has taken on a different meaning but we are still living life. Life still happens.

And so will this blog, as long as I can, as much as I can. I still want to share my life, share my thoughts, and keep this ministry going. Because even though our lives have changed, it is still happening. We are moving forward.  And that gives me a lot of things to write about.

While we can’t just move on, we can move forward, right? This is what we are trying to do. Read more about it here.

Since learning of my husband’s diagnosis, I have had a hard time blogging here regularly. Life is so different now.

After praying about it, my husband and I felt it was a good time to start a new blog, chronicling our new journey in life. I hope you will visit me there, add us to your reader, add us to your prayers, and say hello! I am still “setting up shop” so bear with me while I set up and work out the kinks.

You can find us here:

Our Journey Through ALS

Your visit will definitely brighten my day!

After taking a lengthy blogging break, I am feeling refreshed and ready to get back into the swing of things around here.

I have been working hard on maintaining my priorities and trying to keep the important things in my life in balance. I don’t know that I have found the perfect solution, but I have made strides.

What ways have you found to balance your blogging time with your other responsibilities?

“A right delayed is a right denied”

For many years I ran a preschool from my home, and then I formally taught kindergarten for 3 years at our church school. I love planning lessons around themes, unit studies, decorating up my classroom around a particular theme etc.

Fast forward several years, and as a homeschooling mom of 3, I have often dropped the ball in this area. Just keeping track of who is doing what, reading what, or who is supposed to be doing those things leaves little time for elaborate thematic lesson plans. But every now and then I get inspired. And this year, for some reason, I feel especially inspired to make my children aware of what a great man Martin Luther King Jr. was. But of course, I didn’t actually sit down to pull anything together until late Sunday night so my options are limited. Yep, that is me. Mrs. Mommy Big Plans But  (un)Organized.

But thankfully I still have this book from my teaching years on our bookshelf, add in a few online printables and I am  pretty sure I have my act together enough to share this great man with my children.

Oh and I have the story.

The one that took place when I was in 5th grade. I will never forget it.

Our teachers decided they needed to give us a real life example of what prejudices existed for African Americans. So they seperated us into groups: blond hair, blue eyes, and not blond hair, blue eyes.

The blond hair/blue eyes group got special privileges. The children who didn’t have blond hair/blue eyes were not allowed to sit near them, use the same bathroom as them, eat lunch with them, play in the same play ground area as them etc.

We didn’t know there was  a lesson involved. We just thought our teachers were doing some crazy new thing at school.

Did I mention that I do not have blond hair and blue eyes?

The blondies really took advantage of having the upper hand. By mid afternoon, things were getting slightly out of control, and I was in the bathroom crying and feeling sick to my stomach. I wanted to go home.

Being a minority, looked down upon, and treated unequally because of my hair color was awful.

Our teachers sat us down and shared with us the story of Martin Luther King Jr. and about the injustices done to the African American people. I remember being so shook up that this really happened in my country. I couldn’t believe that people treated each other this way.

It’s a story I have never forgotten. And I don’t want my children to ever forget either.

With Obama as our President, it is hard for my children to ever imagine a day when a man of his color was not allowed to have the same privileges we have. But they need to know that it wasn’t always this way.

Debi Pearl shares a moving story in her article Listen To My Dream. It reminded me again of the lesson learned in 5th grade. I have not yet purchased her Listen To My Dream book, but it is on my wish list.

Thankfully we live in a nation where prejudices (for the most part) are a thing of the past. But there is good reason to let our children see what can happen when there is, and what can happen when one person decides to bravely stand up and boldly proclaim their beliefs even if it costs them dearly. After all, our Savior wasn’t afraid to do it. And doesn’t He calls us to the same boldness, even if the cost is high?

After reading Happy Birthday Dr. King together, we have this coloring page, will complete this Martin Luther King Jr notebooking page, and making this hand banner.

And then we will pray that our nation will never again treat others unfairly because of their skin color, hair color, whether they are rich or poor, tall or short, small or large. And we will also pray that we will be able to be as courageous and walk as boldly as those who have gone before us if and when God calls them.

Do you do anything special to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. in your home?

I’ll be posting pretty lightly around here over the next two weeks as I am taking a little break over this busy holiday season.  I plan on taking lots of time to pray about the direction and focus of this blog too, and can’t wait to share with you where the Lord is leading me in 2010!

I hope you all have a blessed and very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The creative, lovely, wonderful Joy has struck again- creating a beautiful new blog design for me!

I LOVE it.

What do you think?

This post is linked to Your Life,Your Blog

My husband has the day off today so we are looking forward to spending time together as a family after a very busy weekend! He even promised to make up a couple pans of lasagna with me. I love cooking with my husband cause he gets right into like a Food Network Star, and it just makes it so fun. Hope you have a great day with your families! Be back to blogging tomorrow and get ready to see the new look of this blog. You’ll love it!

Honestly fall is my favorite time of year.  I think I like it better than any other season! We live in New England, and the foliage in our state is absolutely breathtaking!

We love to go apple picking each year as a family, and then make up some delicious apple crisp.  Yummy applesauce is always fun to make and can for the next season. And what is fall without football and apple pie? Celebrating Rosh Hashanah is always fun too!

But the best part of fall is celebrating our wedding anniversary!

We were married October 7, 1995 on a beautiful autumn day. We took our honeymoon in the White Mountains of NH and we go there each year for a long weekend to do some leaf peeping, eat at our favorite restaurant, hike the mountains and reminiscing over the years. In our 14 years of marriage we have never missed a trip!

How do you celebrate the fall season? Share your traditions at the fall festival over at Life As Mom!