Welcome December!

"While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn...But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." ~Luke

I imagine it was a lot for Mary to take in. The whole 9 months was A LOT to take in. What a joy and peace she must have felt as God's promises were fulfilled and everywhere she turned, people were believing that her Child was the Savior-- Joseph, the shepherds, Simeon, Anna... December is always a good time to practice treasuring His presence in my life and pondering His work in my heart. May I do it more often through out the year when things are good and bad, hard and easy. We serve a Mighty King.

Merry Christmas!
(and where's the snow??????)

And finally, the end is in sight!

I am excited to announce that the plans to complete our family are in process. Baby #4 is on the way! He/she will make a grand entrance sometime in mid-June. As usual, I am very sick and back on anti-nausea meds to get through the day. It is much harder getting through the school material as well, but Lord willing, it will only last through the beginning of January if that. Boy, that sounded more optimistic than I feel! We are all excited, and the kids talk about it often. It's really the first time Ryan or Rachael understand even a little bit.

Oh, and Katie W. gets the prize for noticing the most subtle of changes to the blog!
Prize: being mentioned on the blog!

A Weekend with the Girls

About 200 I think. Last weekend was the LifePoint Women's Retreat 2009. I am still coming down off of the high. Every aspect of the weekend was a blessing from riding with 2 friends I never see enough, 5 wonderful gourmet meals (several with dessert!), awesome sleeping quarters where we napped and read, outlet shopping and a speaker who I felt like we'd known each other for years.
It was so relaxing that the pouring rain outside did nothing but cause us to sit back and chat or read a good book.

We were BLESSED in every way to be joined by sweet Angie Smith, her talented husband, Todd, and their daughters. I have been following Angie's blog since just before the birth of her fourth daughter, Audrey. Audrey spent 2 1/2 hours here on earth before being completely healed in Jesus' arms. I won't even attempt to summarize Angie's journey and all that she has learned and in turn shared with her readers. If you have time to spend with her in her blog, you will be blessed.

Friday evening I had the privilege once again to hear her testimony from her heart through her own voice. Not a dry eye in the house as we all bonded. Saturday morning Angie spoke on a life lived in gratitude, Clothed in Joy. Our small group came to the conclusion that the two cannot survive in one's life without the other. Angie spoke about things that rob us of gratitude, whether it be fear, entitlement, busyness of life, or unforgiveness. She summed it up with the story of the ONE leper out of 10 returning to Jesus to thank him for his healing and salvation.

Saturday night we heard a stirring call to service outside of our comfort zone from our pastor's daughter-in-law. The evening ended with a mini-concert with Angie's husband, Todd, from Selah. It was wonderful!!!

Sunday morning, Angie gave us 10 practical ways to change our attitude and leave a legacy of gratitude. I was able to take several of those things and put them into practice on Monday morning.
1. Daily naming 4 big things I am grateful for and 4 details of my life for which I am grateful.
2. I am changing the beginning of my sentence from "I have to..." to "I get to..."
3. Setting time aside to thank God for everything...not asking, not dumping, just thanking.

I don't have it mastered and won't until He returns, but I sit here on a Friday night and look back a more peaceful week in my life and for that, God, I am Grateful.


(Angie, it was a pleasure to meet and spend a few minutes with you at dinner on Saturday evening. We'll keep the homeschool fires burning together, sweet friend! Love you!)

New Directions

Just wrote then deleted a stupid blog entry about finally switching razors after having the same one for 20 years (Ken would yell, "the same handle not blade!"). But anyway, new is good. 4 blades better than 2!

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Facebook status today:

Brooke Conard Speulstra Ryan is learning to label sentences with subject nouns, verbs and ADVERBS! I thought for sure we were too far ahead until he asked, "When are we going to do something hard?" HE IS 5!!!

I told Ken when we decided to homeschool that if one of the kids were smarter than me, I'd quit. Hmmm....

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And while we on the subject of homeschooling, I hated the way science was going this year so we aborted that mission and took the road Ken wanted. We are now exploring Apologia's Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the the Fifth Day. Love the notebook that accompanies it. He is already looking up the taxonomies of all kinds of animals. Can't wait to see what he is when he grows up!

Living in 2009

Been studying Genesis in Bible Study this year. Ryan's class follows right along with ours (his book is much cooler with neat pictures and chances to draw) just on a different level. We love to quiz each other on our memory verse.

After studying the flood, we focused on the re population of the earth and specifically God's plan for the chosen nation of Israel through Shem.

Our study took us to Acts, chapter 17, verses 26-28a. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.

I love The Message's version : Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn't play hide-and-seek with us. He's not remote; he's near. We live and move in him, can't get away from him!

God chose the place and time for each of us to be here on earth. He isn't surprised by our birth and then fits us into His Plan. NO! He chose the time and place so that we might be drawn to Him and know Him. He wants us to reach out and realize how close He really is. He loves me more than I can conceive. When I am bogged down by the day and the nightmares of the world we live in, I take GREAT comfort in knowing that He chose this time in history that I might know him best. He is not hiding...am I seeking with all my heart?

I will not let a month go by...has it been that long!!??

It actually hasn't been that exciting around here (at least nothing I can't say in a sentence on FB, sorry blog). We've been working on the school groove. I am gradually growing more discipline in being prepared ahead of time. We had a work weekend around the house with help from our families. Ken has the basement in pieces again, but it had to happen. Hoping it is done by Christmas. (fingers crossed everyone)

Three weeks into school and we needed a break. Just kidding. Planned the trip a long time ago to celebrate homeschooling and the freedom to come and go as we please. And less crowds and lines.

So Disney it was!!!

Day One--Plane ride to Charlotte and Orlando. Kids loved it, Jack fell asleep during take-off the first time. R&R fell asleep on the second take-off. Condo with grandparents in Vista Cay was great!

Day Two-Magic Kingdom
We had a really rough start with crabby kids and trying to move the seven of us along was a chore. Around 2 pm all attitudes disappeared and we were able to stay through the Electrical Parade.

Rachael and me watching the princesses dance w/ Mickey and Minnie

Meeting Arial--our shy guppie as she put it.

Day Three- Sea World
LOVE LOVE LOVE Shamu and all the other amazing sea animals. Jack is still doing the Shamu wave...

Day Four-Epcot

Not many pics but we road Mission: Space, GM's Test Track, and Soarin' which was very cool.

Day Five-Animal Kingdom

The Safari Jeep Ride was great. Ken and I went on the Expedition Everest roller coaster which was really good. Then we headed to see Finding Nemo the Musical. It was incredible. Never seen anything like it.

Safari outlook

Day Six-Magic Kingdom

We started out at the Polynesian Resort having breakfast with MICKEY, Pluto, Lilo and Stitch. Ryan loved it and Rachael finally warmed up at the end while Jack screamed ever time they got near him (not sure if he was scared of them or someone taking his food--the Mickey waffles where awesome!) We went back to Magic Kingdom to hit the places we'd missed. Waited only 15 min to see Mickey and Minnie together.

Tea at Minnie's House

Day Seven- HOME to Baltimore!

First Day of School

Well it's here! School had begun and we are finally finished with our first day. The plan is not to go until 3 pm but an unexpected doctor appointment for my week and a half old cough changed that. (I am fine. Waiting a few days to start antibiotics...) Anyway, Ryan and Rachael were both excited this morning. We got a late start because Jack was up with two tooth aches until 2 :30 and slept in til 10am.

We did the calendar time together and Rachael worked on the color Red today while Ryan reviewed addition facts. After Rachael was finished, we read another chapter in 20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea, categorize household items during grammer time, story problems in math, and discussed what the word 'history' and archeology mean.

For those of you interested we are using:

Abeka Math

Shurley English

Story of the World (History)

Classic Novels and Stories for Reading

DK First Animal Encyclopedia

Psalm 100

Ryan was thrilled to receive a globe today!

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I have had several people on facebook commenting about my summer chore of doing windows. I put it off all summer and was glad I did. I looked out this window one day and started my chore the next day only to find THIS.