First off, let me say when I'm talking about what's going on in our home this summer I'm using quotation marks around "homeschooling" because I'm fully aware that it's not the real homeschooling some of my friends do. What's going on in our house is more pseudo-school than real homeschool. More like after school tutoring than school :)
I started out the summer with grand plans of "homeschooling" my son for about 2 hours each day, 5 days a week. I was figuring this would get him in a wonderful position to start his 1st grade year once school starts in August. The first week I was really good about that. The second week . . . I, uh, started slacking. After about halfway through the second week our "school" time was him playing Starfall every day while his sister rested and I got a bit of a break.
We're now a month in and only have 6 full weeks until school starts (1 of which we'll be out of town) so my grand plans have now gone completely out the window. I'm now to the point I'm just trying to make sure he didn't have a "summer slide".
In the past month I've learned (or confirmed):
**I'm not disciplined enough to be my child's teacher
**My son and I do not work well in a student/teacher relationship
**I'm lazy
**Coming up with age appropriate lesson plans is hard
**Choosing curriculum is a mind-boggling exercise
**Trying to figure out what my kids "should" know at this age is hard
**I have no clue how to do assessments and figure out if my kids are where they "should" be
I know if our family was committed to this full-time some of those things would work themselves out as I did further research and educated myself, but the truth is every time I've tried to think that way and look into standards and assessments I pretty much have a nervous breakdown.
I went into this summer with unrealistic expectations of our "homeschooling" time each day being a wonderful one-on-one time with my son. Instead it's become a very stressful thing that makes me thankful for teaching professionals :) Because I won't want to "ruin" my son's summer with a screaming stressed out Mommy we're doing much less "school" than I'd anticipated and I'm fully ok with that.
I'm also left with even more respect for my friends who have determined that homeschooling is the right fit for their family and who are in the trenches as both parent and teacher to their child.
Now, excuse me while I figure out what to do with the curriculum I bought when I got ahead of myself several months ago . . .
Monday, June 24, 2013
Thursday, June 20, 2013
A funny thing happened on the way . . .
I don't know why, but I still get surprised when God uses my selfish motivations and changes my heart.
It started over the weekend when I was writing about perspective and was looking for links to add to the post. While I was on Compassion's website I read about the Compassion bloggers trip to Nicaragua. A few days later I got an e-mail from Compassion (several months ago I signed up to be a Compassion blogger, but sadly have never written anything using the prompts they send out each month) saying they were having a contest related to the trip and that there were ways to get up to 22 entries a day.
The prize pack includes 9 books including some that have been sitting un-purchased on my Amazon wish list: One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier by Ree Drummond and Plan B by Pete Wilson.
Confession: Compassion Week on Heidi's @ Home has been motivated by the fact that I would get 10 entries for each blog post about the trip to Nicaragua where I linked the Compassion bloggers. (I could only enter this portion of the contest once a day)
I figured it was a win/win because I got to write about child sponsorship, which is near and dear to my heart, while also doing everything possible to win books. I love to write and I love to read. Doing a writing assignment so I'd have more books to read? Yes, please!
The contest ended Thursday afternoon.
By the time I wrote the final post in my "Compassion Week" series on Thursday morning I had spent hours on the Compassion website, on the Compassion bloggers website, on twitter following the bloggers, reading their posts on Facebook, going to their individual sites, etc. My blog wasn't the only thing that was consumed by Compassion International this week--it felt like my entire life was.
On the way to getting the maximum 88 entries (max of 22 entries over 4 days) a funny thing happened . . . I started caring less about winning the contest and more about finding a sponsor for as many children as possible. 9.5 years after my own sponsorship journey began (when my husband and I got married and I "inherited" his Compassion children) I thought my heart had already been changed by sponsorship. I mean, we made our Compassion children a priority in our budget, ahead of things like eating out, going on "date nights" or getting a babysitter to preserve my sanity while I got out of the house for a few hours during the day. I take my kids to doctor's appointments rather than pay a baby-sitter so we can sponsor our kids. I was wrong. There's still plenty of room for God to work. As I've been reading the stories coming out of Nicaragua this week my heart started changing even more.
For the first time I was in the home of a child being sponsored. For the first time I caught a glimpse into the life of a mom who had been forced to choose between her child receiving an education or feeding her family and I met a dad who has defied the cultural norm and is sticking around to raise his children.
There's already more month than food in our grocery budget and yet I'm left wondering today . . . where can I find another $38/mo to bring hope to another child?
As I've read these stories and seen these pictures this week I've been changed and I never left suburbia. I've served on foreign mission trips and seen those who don't have much materially, but this virtual trip has changed me more than those ones I've been to in the barrios of Chile (twice) and having built houses for people whose homes had been made up only of pallets.
The contest is over, and for the first time this week I'm not submitting my blog link to Compassion to be eligible for to win 9 books, but I'm ok with that because I know God has started a movement in my heart that (I believe) will continue to go forward.
It started over the weekend when I was writing about perspective and was looking for links to add to the post. While I was on Compassion's website I read about the Compassion bloggers trip to Nicaragua. A few days later I got an e-mail from Compassion (several months ago I signed up to be a Compassion blogger, but sadly have never written anything using the prompts they send out each month) saying they were having a contest related to the trip and that there were ways to get up to 22 entries a day.
The prize pack includes 9 books including some that have been sitting un-purchased on my Amazon wish list: One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier by Ree Drummond and Plan B by Pete Wilson.
Confession: Compassion Week on Heidi's @ Home has been motivated by the fact that I would get 10 entries for each blog post about the trip to Nicaragua where I linked the Compassion bloggers. (I could only enter this portion of the contest once a day)
I figured it was a win/win because I got to write about child sponsorship, which is near and dear to my heart, while also doing everything possible to win books. I love to write and I love to read. Doing a writing assignment so I'd have more books to read? Yes, please!
The contest ended Thursday afternoon.
By the time I wrote the final post in my "Compassion Week" series on Thursday morning I had spent hours on the Compassion website, on the Compassion bloggers website, on twitter following the bloggers, reading their posts on Facebook, going to their individual sites, etc. My blog wasn't the only thing that was consumed by Compassion International this week--it felt like my entire life was.
On the way to getting the maximum 88 entries (max of 22 entries over 4 days) a funny thing happened . . . I started caring less about winning the contest and more about finding a sponsor for as many children as possible. 9.5 years after my own sponsorship journey began (when my husband and I got married and I "inherited" his Compassion children) I thought my heart had already been changed by sponsorship. I mean, we made our Compassion children a priority in our budget, ahead of things like eating out, going on "date nights" or getting a babysitter to preserve my sanity while I got out of the house for a few hours during the day. I take my kids to doctor's appointments rather than pay a baby-sitter so we can sponsor our kids. I was wrong. There's still plenty of room for God to work. As I've been reading the stories coming out of Nicaragua this week my heart started changing even more.
For the first time I was in the home of a child being sponsored. For the first time I caught a glimpse into the life of a mom who had been forced to choose between her child receiving an education or feeding her family and I met a dad who has defied the cultural norm and is sticking around to raise his children.
There's already more month than food in our grocery budget and yet I'm left wondering today . . . where can I find another $38/mo to bring hope to another child?
As I've read these stories and seen these pictures this week I've been changed and I never left suburbia. I've served on foreign mission trips and seen those who don't have much materially, but this virtual trip has changed me more than those ones I've been to in the barrios of Chile (twice) and having built houses for people whose homes had been made up only of pallets.
The contest is over, and for the first time this week I'm not submitting my blog link to Compassion to be eligible for to win 9 books, but I'm ok with that because I know God has started a movement in my heart that (I believe) will continue to go forward.
Concluding "Compassion Week"
This week I've been sharing stories from the Compassion bloggers in Nicaragua as they've been traveling to different centers and visiting the homes of their sponsored children.
As someone living in my suburban home with the comforts of food in my fridge, a roof over my head, a comfortable mattress and cool air provided by my air conditioning it's hard for me to imagine what "extreme poverty" looks like. ("Extreme poverty" as defined by the UN is living on less than $1 USD a day) Last night Kelly at Faithful Provisions wrote a beautiful story from the perspective of Daisy, the mom of a sponsored child.
In recent months I've been struggling with fitting in with my culture and truly living like Jesus. While I know (in my head) it's not about my home being "updated" (which it's not), having new furniture (we're 37 & nearly 47 and most of our furniture is still second and third hand from our parents and friends) I'd be dishonest if I were saying I didn't want those things. Then I read stories like Bending For Treasure In The Trash by Shaun Groves and I'm reminded what's truly important in this world. I love how Traci describes the role of a Compassion sponsor in the Body of Christ.
By going on this virtual trip to Nicaragua and immersing myself in the work of Compassion for the past few days I have been changed. Being fully honest, there have been times I've looked at our monthly charitable giving and thought "If we didn't give to (fill in the organization) each month we'd have room in our budget for (my want)." God has been shifting my heart and aligning it more with His. Instead of looking at my "wants" right now I'm finding myself looking at our budget and finding where else we can cut/"find" money to sponsor another child.
The Compassion bloggers are going to be in Nicaragua for a few more days and are going to continue to post so please continue to follow their stories and be introduced to the amazing lives being changed by sponsorship.
Up until recently our Compassion children have been chosen for us. As I've mentioned before, my husband started sponsoring children through Compassion before we met and his first 2 children were chosen for him. Over the years we've had 3 girls from the Dominican Republic and one boy from Peru who wasn't even in (our equivalent) of Kindergarten when my husband started sponsoring him, and is now 17 and getting ready to graduate! Though we've sponsored 4 children over the years, we've never sponsored more than 2 at a time. Recently I was thinking of friends (who have 5 kids) and who have a Compassion child for each of the children living in their own home so their kids each have a friend they get to write to. Compressing the story, a few months I went to Compassion's website and searched for a 4 child between 4-5 with no other search parameters set. After seeing all the children in that age range I entered our daughter's birthdate in the search box and there was an adorable little boy in Peru staring at me. I told my husband what I'd done and asked, "Do you think we can make this work?". He agreed with me and we added Alexis to our family. A few weeks later I did the same thing, this time looking up a child with the same birthdate as our 6 year old and we were introduced to Sharon in Kenya. We have friends who live overseas (in a country where Compassion works) and they've told us that if we end up sponsoring a child near them (there are several centers in their area) that they would go visit the child on our behalf, which would be wonderful so we've considered that as well. Who knows . . . maybe we'll add a 5th child in their region before much longer :)
If your heart has been stirred by my posts, and the stories of the Compassion bloggers, please consider the $38/mo it would take to provide food, education and medical care for a child living in poverty. You can start your journey to sponsorship by clicking the banner to the left or the widget below.
In recent months I've been struggling with fitting in with my culture and truly living like Jesus. While I know (in my head) it's not about my home being "updated" (which it's not), having new furniture (we're 37 & nearly 47 and most of our furniture is still second and third hand from our parents and friends) I'd be dishonest if I were saying I didn't want those things. Then I read stories like Bending For Treasure In The Trash by Shaun Groves and I'm reminded what's truly important in this world. I love how Traci describes the role of a Compassion sponsor in the Body of Christ.
By going on this virtual trip to Nicaragua and immersing myself in the work of Compassion for the past few days I have been changed. Being fully honest, there have been times I've looked at our monthly charitable giving and thought "If we didn't give to (fill in the organization) each month we'd have room in our budget for (my want)." God has been shifting my heart and aligning it more with His. Instead of looking at my "wants" right now I'm finding myself looking at our budget and finding where else we can cut/"find" money to sponsor another child.
The Compassion bloggers are going to be in Nicaragua for a few more days and are going to continue to post so please continue to follow their stories and be introduced to the amazing lives being changed by sponsorship.
Up until recently our Compassion children have been chosen for us. As I've mentioned before, my husband started sponsoring children through Compassion before we met and his first 2 children were chosen for him. Over the years we've had 3 girls from the Dominican Republic and one boy from Peru who wasn't even in (our equivalent) of Kindergarten when my husband started sponsoring him, and is now 17 and getting ready to graduate! Though we've sponsored 4 children over the years, we've never sponsored more than 2 at a time. Recently I was thinking of friends (who have 5 kids) and who have a Compassion child for each of the children living in their own home so their kids each have a friend they get to write to. Compressing the story, a few months I went to Compassion's website and searched for a 4 child between 4-5 with no other search parameters set. After seeing all the children in that age range I entered our daughter's birthdate in the search box and there was an adorable little boy in Peru staring at me. I told my husband what I'd done and asked, "Do you think we can make this work?". He agreed with me and we added Alexis to our family. A few weeks later I did the same thing, this time looking up a child with the same birthdate as our 6 year old and we were introduced to Sharon in Kenya. We have friends who live overseas (in a country where Compassion works) and they've told us that if we end up sponsoring a child near them (there are several centers in their area) that they would go visit the child on our behalf, which would be wonderful so we've considered that as well. Who knows . . . maybe we'll add a 5th child in their region before much longer :)
If your heart has been stirred by my posts, and the stories of the Compassion bloggers, please consider the $38/mo it would take to provide food, education and medical care for a child living in poverty. You can start your journey to sponsorship by clicking the banner to the left or the widget below.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Compassion Week Continued . . . . Meeting A Sponsored Child
Yesterday was the first full day for the Compassion Bloggers and I was anxiously awaiting their first posts last night. During the day Kelly from Faithful Provisions tweeted a picture of her with Marcos. I rejoiced with her as she got to meet him and not-so-patiently waited for her to have a few moments to write about her day.
I was rewarded last evening when Kelly shared Marcos' story and beautiful pictures.
As I read through the description of Marcos' house I couldn't help but think of our own Marco, Alexis who live in Peru. I know they live in solid construction homes, but I was wondering what their sleeping conditions are like. We're just getting to know Naidelin in the Domincan Republic so I don't know what her living conditions are like. I know that Sharon must fetch water and most likely lives in a hut. All are a far (and humbling) cry from my own living situation as I sit here in my suburban Arizona home listening to the sound of the air conditioner that is keeping me cool in the midst of a hot Phoenix summer.
I was rewarded last evening when Kelly shared Marcos' story and beautiful pictures.
As I read through the description of Marcos' house I couldn't help but think of our own Marco, Alexis who live in Peru. I know they live in solid construction homes, but I was wondering what their sleeping conditions are like. We're just getting to know Naidelin in the Domincan Republic so I don't know what her living conditions are like. I know that Sharon must fetch water and most likely lives in a hut. All are a far (and humbling) cry from my own living situation as I sit here in my suburban Arizona home listening to the sound of the air conditioner that is keeping me cool in the midst of a hot Phoenix summer.
This morning, the first moment I could, I went to my computer and read through the other posts from the Compassion Bloggers.
My heart was caught in my throat this morning as I saw Christy's first day in Nicaragua detailed in words and pictures that rattled my world. I can see why she felt like she lived an entire year of her life in one year. After seeing the images Christy and Bri shared from the garbage dump they visited to the joy of meeting Wilbert and his family I felt like I was on the roller coaster of emotions, too.
Following the Compassion Bloggers for the past few days has reinforced my passion for sponsorship as well as given birth to my desire to go visit one of our kids.
If you're reading my blog I challenge you to follow these stories and others as they unfold this week and see what God does in your heart through these stories and the others that are going to be unfolding over the next few days.
My heart was caught in my throat this morning as I saw Christy's first day in Nicaragua detailed in words and pictures that rattled my world. I can see why she felt like she lived an entire year of her life in one year. After seeing the images Christy and Bri shared from the garbage dump they visited to the joy of meeting Wilbert and his family I felt like I was on the roller coaster of emotions, too.
Following the Compassion Bloggers for the past few days has reinforced my passion for sponsorship as well as given birth to my desire to go visit one of our kids.
If you're reading my blog I challenge you to follow these stories and others as they unfold this week and see what God does in your heart through these stories and the others that are going to be unfolding over the next few days.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Compassion Week at Heidi's @ Home
Even if you just started reading my blog this week you know my family and I are huge supporters of Compassion International since I have written several posts about our experience, the way my life is being changed and how I'm going on a going on a (virtual) trip this week with the Compassion bloggers.
Because of this week's trip to Nicaragua I'm considering this "Compassion Week" here at Heidi's @ Home :) I'll resume my "regular" posts next week, but figure this is a good time to bring attention to one of my favorite groups.
I'm anxiously awaiting updates from the team and am extremely jealous of Kelly from Faithful Provisions who gets to meet her sponsored child, Marcos today! Kelly tweeted a picture this morning as she was getting ready to meet him and all I could think of is how I'd love to visit Marcos (our oldest Compassion child, who is getting ready to graduate) in Peru, Naidelin in the Dominican Republic, Sharon in Kenya or Alexis in Peru. Alexis and Marco only live about 100 miles away from each other.
While I can't visit our kids this week I'm excited to follow the activities of the Compassion bloggers on Twitter.
Until the team starts posting their updates I'm enjoying getting to know the team by reading their blogs, including Giving the internet malaria by Shaun Groves who is helping to lead this trip.
Will you join me in following this team as they get to love on some beautiful children and witness first hand the amazing work Compassion is doing in Nicaragua?
Monday, June 17, 2013
Yuck!
For the 3rd time since October a friend from my freshman year of college has had a parent pass away. All 3 friends are my age---way too young to have to say "good-bye". Thankfully each of these know their parents are in heaven because of their relationship with Jesus, but I know it's still extremely difficult.
Yesterday was Father's Day. For one of my friends it's marked the first Father's Day without her dad, who passed away several weeks ago. Another one spent yesterday at the hospital with her dad in ICU (he passed this morning). Last month my friend whose mom passed away in October had to spend his first Mother's Day without his mom, just a few days before his first birthday without her.
I've written before about the hardest part of getting older and, at that point, I didn't know anyone well who had lost a parent. That has changed since then. Mr. M in the original post is physically doing fine, but in 2011 he had to say good-bye to his wife of over 50 years, which meant one of my husband's closest friends lost his mom.
Now these three college friends have all lost their parents in recent months and I'm once again left thinking that sometimes adulthood really stinks. I don't mind saying I'm 37. My 20 year reunion next year doesn't bother me. I could care less about turning 40 in 2016. Those things don't bother me---it's this reality of adulthood that I'm not happy about.
Yesterday was Father's Day. For one of my friends it's marked the first Father's Day without her dad, who passed away several weeks ago. Another one spent yesterday at the hospital with her dad in ICU (he passed this morning). Last month my friend whose mom passed away in October had to spend his first Mother's Day without his mom, just a few days before his first birthday without her.
I've written before about the hardest part of getting older and, at that point, I didn't know anyone well who had lost a parent. That has changed since then. Mr. M in the original post is physically doing fine, but in 2011 he had to say good-bye to his wife of over 50 years, which meant one of my husband's closest friends lost his mom.
Now these three college friends have all lost their parents in recent months and I'm once again left thinking that sometimes adulthood really stinks. I don't mind saying I'm 37. My 20 year reunion next year doesn't bother me. I could care less about turning 40 in 2016. Those things don't bother me---it's this reality of adulthood that I'm not happy about.
Going on a (virtual) trip!
All weekend I have been thinking about the lesson in perspective and the object lesson we tried to teach our kids Saturday. My husband and I had an interesting talk Saturday night about the struggle of wanting to live the life God wants while also being heavily influenced by our American culture of "stuff".
We currently have 4 Compassion children, including one who is getting to graduate his program. This young man is someone that has been part of my husband's life since before we met and started dating over 10 years ago so he's seen our family change from my husband as a single man to where we are today: a family with 2 kids who will be 7 and 5 this summer. Until recently we'd never had more than 2 Compassion children at a time, but had had 4 total over the years. In recent months we added a little boy born the same day as our daughter and a little girl born the same day as our son so we can watch these children grow up along with ours, which brought our total to 4 that we currently sponsor. We've had two we sponsor leave the program: one due to graduation and one due to other circumstances.
Though we've sponsored Compassion children the entire time we've been married (as I mentioned, my husband started before we were married, so I "inherited" these kids on our wedding day) it's been in recent months that my heart has seriously been changed by the sponsorship experience. We pray for our Compassion children regularly as they each have their own "sticks" and have their pictures hanging in the hallway where we get to see their faces often. Our kids know their names and they are part of normal conversation in our home. Our kids love that they each have a friend in a different country who was born the same day as them (though my 4 year old was confused for awhile as to why she and her friend in Peru weren't twins even though they were born the same day).
This week, Edie at life{in}grace has the amazing experience of travelling to Nicaragua with Compassion International and she, along with her fellow travelers, are blogging about their experiences.
I'm not going to lie---I'm extremely jealous of these bloggers this week who get to meet and love on children that Compassion is helping to release from poverty in the name of Jesus Christ! In my dreams we get to travel to Peru (Our oldest and youngest Compassion children live approximately 100mi from each other) or the Dominican Republic or Kenya to visit one of these members or our extended family. Since I can't visit our own Compassion kids this week I'm going to live vicariously through those who can!
Will you join me in following Edie, Shaun, Traci, Kelly, and Christy this week as they get to be Jesus' hands and feet in Nicaragua and love on some amazing kids?
We currently have 4 Compassion children, including one who is getting to graduate his program. This young man is someone that has been part of my husband's life since before we met and started dating over 10 years ago so he's seen our family change from my husband as a single man to where we are today: a family with 2 kids who will be 7 and 5 this summer. Until recently we'd never had more than 2 Compassion children at a time, but had had 4 total over the years. In recent months we added a little boy born the same day as our daughter and a little girl born the same day as our son so we can watch these children grow up along with ours, which brought our total to 4 that we currently sponsor. We've had two we sponsor leave the program: one due to graduation and one due to other circumstances.
Though we've sponsored Compassion children the entire time we've been married (as I mentioned, my husband started before we were married, so I "inherited" these kids on our wedding day) it's been in recent months that my heart has seriously been changed by the sponsorship experience. We pray for our Compassion children regularly as they each have their own "sticks" and have their pictures hanging in the hallway where we get to see their faces often. Our kids know their names and they are part of normal conversation in our home. Our kids love that they each have a friend in a different country who was born the same day as them (though my 4 year old was confused for awhile as to why she and her friend in Peru weren't twins even though they were born the same day).
This week, Edie at life{in}grace has the amazing experience of travelling to Nicaragua with Compassion International and she, along with her fellow travelers, are blogging about their experiences.
I'm not going to lie---I'm extremely jealous of these bloggers this week who get to meet and love on children that Compassion is helping to release from poverty in the name of Jesus Christ! In my dreams we get to travel to Peru (Our oldest and youngest Compassion children live approximately 100mi from each other) or the Dominican Republic or Kenya to visit one of these members or our extended family. Since I can't visit our own Compassion kids this week I'm going to live vicariously through those who can!
Will you join me in following Edie, Shaun, Traci, Kelly, and Christy this week as they get to be Jesus' hands and feet in Nicaragua and love on some amazing kids?
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Perspective and an Impromptu Object Lesson
This week we received our first letter from our newest Compassion Child, a little girl from Kenya who was born the same day as our son. This morning my husband was reading the newest Compassion Magazine, which we received yesterday and I asked him, "Did you read Sharon's letter? Did you see one of her chores is fetching water?" Both of our kids were playing in the kitchen while we talked so when my 6 year old heard us he asked what "fetching water" meant.
Since we were standing in the kitchen I turned on our faucet and told the kids how lucky we are to have running water. I explained about how many people around the world aren't lucky enough to have water in their house and they have to go get it. I explained that some people get their water from a well and others have to go get theirs from a body of water that they share with animals who drink and go to the bathroom there. I asked the kids how they'd like to drink water that came from where animals pooped. Needless to say there was a chorus of "EEEWWWWW".
I asked my son, "Sharon is your age. Do you think you could carry water back to our house without spilling it?" In typical 6 year old bravado he said, "Of course! That's easy!". Immediately an idea started forming in my head and within minutes we had an impromptu object lesson this morning.
My 4 year old went first with the small bucket:
Next up was my 6 year old:
After both kids successfully carried the small bucket past 4 houses in our suburban neighborhood I had them attempt the 2.5 gallon bucket:
As you can see, my daughter couldn't even lift the 2.5 gallon bucket and by the time my son walked to our neighbor's house that we'd designated as our end point his bucket was basically empty.
The water ended up primarily on him, which he didn't mind since we're in the midst of a Phoenix summer and it was already about 95 when we were doing this at 11am.
After watching what happened when my son picked up the 2.5 gallon bucket I was quite interested to see what would happen once the kids attempted the next challenge:
I don't know if the kids fully got the object lesson I was trying to teach because they were more into how fun it was to get wet on this hot morning, but hopefully it'll stick.
Once we got in the house I was getting a little pushback when I asked them to mop the floor and unload the dishwasher. We talked about how Sharon would probably LOVE a machine that did the dishes for her and I told them that where she lives they have dirt floors so she would think our tile floors were extremely fancy.
Our activities this morning were also a good dose of perspective for this mom. For the past few weeks I've been seeing pictures on Facebook of vacations my friends are taking and I've been getting discouraged that we haven't been able to fit anything like that into our budget. (Ironically when my kids dressed themselves this morning they both put on shirts given to them by a family member who went to Disney World last year and one of the things I've been really struggling with is not being able to afford to take our kids to Disneyland, despite it only being 6 hours away so I had that "god" in my face the whole time the kids were doing this).
Mom needed this dose of perspective at least as much as the kids.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Honest Feelings
I admit many of the things I'm going to post here aren't "right", but they're how I'm feeling.
My 4yo was diagnosed with astigmatism this week and we're currently waiting on her first pair of glasses to arrive. I'm the only one on either side of our families that has decent vision (I wear glasses for night driving, but that's about it) so we knew it was a matter of time until our kids wore glasses, but we weren't expecting it this young (we were thinking around 9-13ish) and we weren't expecting astigmatism since it's not real common in our families.
**Learning that she's probably never truly seen clearly saddens me.
**I'm thankful she will be able to wear glasses to see clearly.
**I'm excited for her reaction when she gets her glasses and sees clearly for the first time.
**Finding out she's probably never seen clearly makes me wonder if I should've caught it sooner.
**I'm a little sad that her precious face is going to be behind glasses, until she is ready to wear contacts (we assume she'll want to eventually).
**She's already told me she's sad she's going to be the only kid in her class who wears glasses.
**I'm scared about her "fitting in".
**I have friends with daughters who started wearing glasses in preschool and I know the mean things that have been said to them. I'm borrowing trouble by worrying about my girl having to hear the same things.
**I'm worried about quality of life with being as active as she wants (running around and worrying about her glasses falling off).
In the grand scheme of things I know this is MINOR. I also am thankful that this is her only vision issue. Except for the astigmatism her eyesight is fine right now (she is equally nearsighted and farsighted) so once that's corrected she'll be fine.
Here's how we found out that she needs glasses at 4:
A few months ago my son was studying the 5 senses in Kindergarten. One day he brought home an eye chart his teacher had printed out. My son wanted us to hang it up at home and do it. To him it was a game so I measured 20 feet down the hallway and he showed us "how well he can see". Because my daughter didn't want to be left out she tried it. We noticed she was struggling with some of the bottom lines. I called the optometrist office where my husband and I go (and where our son went when he was 5) and asked if they'd see her. I was told that for kids her age they recommend a pediatric optometrist and gave me a number. I never got around to scheduling anything for her (Mommy fail). Last month she hurt her eye, causing it to be red and watering constantly. I called the optometrist that the rest of the family sees and said, "I know she's younger than you usually see, but can you get her in?". I got a same day appointment and they did a quick assessment of her vision to get a baseline. I noticed she was struggling around the 20/40 part of the chart, but seemed to be doing pretty well around 20/60. Red flag, but I was (hoping) it was just because of the injury. A few days later we went for a follow up and I noticed she was struggling in the exact same spot. I asked the optometrist, "When do I bring her in for her first exam?" and was told any time. I scheduled the appointment and we went Monday where we got the diagnosis.
The interesting thing is she's already reading and hasn't had any trouble at preschool with reading or writing so we really hadn't had cause to be concerned. My husband and I were talking last night and we'd both separately remembered during the day yesterday that she used to stand close to the TV and we'd shoo her away telling her to back up. Now we're wondering if she was doing it to see better . . .
Since she's younger than we were told to do the kids' first exam (just before starting school) I'm thankful for catching it as early as we did, but I'm also a bit sad that she's having to deal with this already (and knowing she most likely was born with this eye shape and has never seen correctly) makes me a bit sad.
Finding glasses small enough for her face (41mm) was extremely challenging, but we finally found ONE pair yesterday so we ordered them (At previous places we could only find 43mm, which were too big. The optometrist special ordered 42mms for her to try on because they didn't have any in stock). My daughter was sad that all the "pretty" ones were too big for her, but I told her "You're going to wear glasses for a long time [rest of her life] so when you get bigger you'll have lots of choices and can get pretty ones".
My husband had LASIK at some point before we met (we've been together 10 years) and my sister recently had it. After doing some research we found out she could possibly be a candidate when she gets older, if she chooses to do it so my husband and I found that encouraging (Besides, who knows what kind of technology will be available to her when she's an adult!).
All in all I know there are a million and one things to be thankful for and not upset about, but I've still struggled with feelings of sadness for her over the past few days. Today I'm finding myself counting down the days until she gets them because I want her to be able to see everything without anything being "fuzzy".
Yesterday my daughter and I scrolled through Little Four Eyes as pictures of other kids her age (and younger) rocking their glasses :)
My 4yo was diagnosed with astigmatism this week and we're currently waiting on her first pair of glasses to arrive. I'm the only one on either side of our families that has decent vision (I wear glasses for night driving, but that's about it) so we knew it was a matter of time until our kids wore glasses, but we weren't expecting it this young (we were thinking around 9-13ish) and we weren't expecting astigmatism since it's not real common in our families.
**Learning that she's probably never truly seen clearly saddens me.
**I'm thankful she will be able to wear glasses to see clearly.
**I'm excited for her reaction when she gets her glasses and sees clearly for the first time.
**Finding out she's probably never seen clearly makes me wonder if I should've caught it sooner.
**I'm a little sad that her precious face is going to be behind glasses, until she is ready to wear contacts (we assume she'll want to eventually).
**She's already told me she's sad she's going to be the only kid in her class who wears glasses.
**I'm scared about her "fitting in".
**I have friends with daughters who started wearing glasses in preschool and I know the mean things that have been said to them. I'm borrowing trouble by worrying about my girl having to hear the same things.
**I'm worried about quality of life with being as active as she wants (running around and worrying about her glasses falling off).
In the grand scheme of things I know this is MINOR. I also am thankful that this is her only vision issue. Except for the astigmatism her eyesight is fine right now (she is equally nearsighted and farsighted) so once that's corrected she'll be fine.
Here's how we found out that she needs glasses at 4:
A few months ago my son was studying the 5 senses in Kindergarten. One day he brought home an eye chart his teacher had printed out. My son wanted us to hang it up at home and do it. To him it was a game so I measured 20 feet down the hallway and he showed us "how well he can see". Because my daughter didn't want to be left out she tried it. We noticed she was struggling with some of the bottom lines. I called the optometrist office where my husband and I go (and where our son went when he was 5) and asked if they'd see her. I was told that for kids her age they recommend a pediatric optometrist and gave me a number. I never got around to scheduling anything for her (Mommy fail). Last month she hurt her eye, causing it to be red and watering constantly. I called the optometrist that the rest of the family sees and said, "I know she's younger than you usually see, but can you get her in?". I got a same day appointment and they did a quick assessment of her vision to get a baseline. I noticed she was struggling around the 20/40 part of the chart, but seemed to be doing pretty well around 20/60. Red flag, but I was (hoping) it was just because of the injury. A few days later we went for a follow up and I noticed she was struggling in the exact same spot. I asked the optometrist, "When do I bring her in for her first exam?" and was told any time. I scheduled the appointment and we went Monday where we got the diagnosis.
The interesting thing is she's already reading and hasn't had any trouble at preschool with reading or writing so we really hadn't had cause to be concerned. My husband and I were talking last night and we'd both separately remembered during the day yesterday that she used to stand close to the TV and we'd shoo her away telling her to back up. Now we're wondering if she was doing it to see better . . .
Since she's younger than we were told to do the kids' first exam (just before starting school) I'm thankful for catching it as early as we did, but I'm also a bit sad that she's having to deal with this already (and knowing she most likely was born with this eye shape and has never seen correctly) makes me a bit sad.
Finding glasses small enough for her face (41mm) was extremely challenging, but we finally found ONE pair yesterday so we ordered them (At previous places we could only find 43mm, which were too big. The optometrist special ordered 42mms for her to try on because they didn't have any in stock). My daughter was sad that all the "pretty" ones were too big for her, but I told her "You're going to wear glasses for a long time [rest of her life] so when you get bigger you'll have lots of choices and can get pretty ones".
My husband had LASIK at some point before we met (we've been together 10 years) and my sister recently had it. After doing some research we found out she could possibly be a candidate when she gets older, if she chooses to do it so my husband and I found that encouraging (Besides, who knows what kind of technology will be available to her when she's an adult!).
All in all I know there are a million and one things to be thankful for and not upset about, but I've still struggled with feelings of sadness for her over the past few days. Today I'm finding myself counting down the days until she gets them because I want her to be able to see everything without anything being "fuzzy".
Yesterday my daughter and I scrolled through Little Four Eyes as pictures of other kids her age (and younger) rocking their glasses :)
Monday, June 3, 2013
Happy! Happy! Happy!
Like Lisa at Marble and Mud I have a hard time being happy when it's nearly 110 outside. Yuck. Instead of focusing on what I don't like about this season I'm choosing to focus on what's making my happy right now:
**The only nice thing I have to say about the hot weather is . . . at least the pool is warming up :)
Since school is out for the summer, here are the things I'm enjoying about our break in no particular order:
**We're all still in our pj's at 8:45am and don't have anywhere to be until this afternoon
**No more playground sand EVERYWHERE (the floor, my son's shoes, his socks, the dryer's lint trap, etc.
**Not having to pack school lunches
**Wearing less clothes (and more swimsuits) makes laundry easier
**The kids are able to wear flip flops every day and I don't have to help anyone tie their shoes
**Time with the kids
**Not really being on a schedule
**There are empty spaces on the calendar this month
**Lots of time in the pool makes for tired kids and less of a bedtime battle
**Arranging get-togethers with friends is much easier now that we don't have to worry about school schedules.
What is making you happy right now?
**The only nice thing I have to say about the hot weather is . . . at least the pool is warming up :)
Since school is out for the summer, here are the things I'm enjoying about our break in no particular order:
**We're all still in our pj's at 8:45am and don't have anywhere to be until this afternoon
**No more playground sand EVERYWHERE (the floor, my son's shoes, his socks, the dryer's lint trap, etc.
**Not having to pack school lunches
**Wearing less clothes (and more swimsuits) makes laundry easier
**The kids are able to wear flip flops every day and I don't have to help anyone tie their shoes
**Time with the kids
**Not really being on a schedule
**There are empty spaces on the calendar this month
**Lots of time in the pool makes for tired kids and less of a bedtime battle
**Arranging get-togethers with friends is much easier now that we don't have to worry about school schedules.
What is making you happy right now?
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Harder than it looks
For the past few months I've been working on being healthier. As a family we've already pretty much eliminated packaged and processed foods from our diet, though I do confess I still enjoy my Coke and probably won't be giving it up soon, despite knowing how bad it is for me.
I've also started working out more than I used to (ANY working out is more than I used to). Between eating better and exercising I was starting to notice a difference in my shape. I took measurements of different places (arms, hips, waist, etc.) in March and then again in April. I was pleasantly surprised to see I'd lost inches throughout my body in that time frame. And then May came. My birthday and Mother's Day are within a week of each other. During that time there were also end of the year parties at preschool, Kindergarten, and Little League. Needless to say I fell off the wagon for a few weeks. I haven't dared take any measurements since the end of April, but I can tell by the mirror and my clothes that I took several steps back after having made some progress earlier in the year
I'm getting back in the routine now. I don't belong to a gym but I have free weights, a medicine ball and resistance band. I have a Pinterest board of workouts that I have been attempting. (Yes, I finally broke down and joined Pinterest as a way to keep track of workout ideas and to aid in my meal planning). I've noticed many of these *look* easy, but in reality I can't make it through half of it when the instructions say 3 reps. I picked one today that I've been struggling with and my goal is to be able to complete an entire rep by the end of June.
This is one of the workouts that has been kicking my tail. I am going to attempt it most days and WILL be able to get through it at least once without stopping!
I've also started working out more than I used to (ANY working out is more than I used to). Between eating better and exercising I was starting to notice a difference in my shape. I took measurements of different places (arms, hips, waist, etc.) in March and then again in April. I was pleasantly surprised to see I'd lost inches throughout my body in that time frame. And then May came. My birthday and Mother's Day are within a week of each other. During that time there were also end of the year parties at preschool, Kindergarten, and Little League. Needless to say I fell off the wagon for a few weeks. I haven't dared take any measurements since the end of April, but I can tell by the mirror and my clothes that I took several steps back after having made some progress earlier in the year
I'm getting back in the routine now. I don't belong to a gym but I have free weights, a medicine ball and resistance band. I have a Pinterest board of workouts that I have been attempting. (Yes, I finally broke down and joined Pinterest as a way to keep track of workout ideas and to aid in my meal planning). I've noticed many of these *look* easy, but in reality I can't make it through half of it when the instructions say 3 reps. I picked one today that I've been struggling with and my goal is to be able to complete an entire rep by the end of June.
This is one of the workouts that has been kicking my tail. I am going to attempt it most days and WILL be able to get through it at least once without stopping!
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