Archive for July, 2006

Jul
30

VBS Week!

Posted by: Gem | Comments (1)

All my churchy readers are probably vicariously exhausted just reading the title.  I don’t know what it is about Vacation Bible School that just sucks the life right out of you, but I am always just totally beat by the end of the week.  Luckily for us, this year we did Monday and Tuesday’s scheduled programs this morning and evening, so we’ll finish the week on Wednesday.  It made for a slightly crazy Sunday, but this way we’ll end on our biggest day.  Our attendance always goes from around 300 to 450 or so by Wednesday, then drops off on Thursday and Friday — I think lots of people head up North for the weekend and want to get an early start.

Squid is heading up the VBS praise team for the week, I’m singing, and this year the girls are singing too!  They had such a blast, and their friends thought they were SOOOO cool to get to sing on mike.  Our preacher told them they were awesome, and told us privately that having kids on the team really gave it the ‘VBS sound’.  It’s not that big of a deal, but I’m pretty proud!

Well, it’s a busy week, in addition to our VBS, the local Lutheran church is having theirs too, mornings.  The girls invited a friend to ours today, so she invited them to come to hers.  I’ll have 4 hrs/day basically to myself!  What will I ever find to fill the time?  Oh, yeah, the stuff I didn’t get done this weekend because I was being lazy.  Sigh.  It always catches up with me!

Categories : Family Stuff, Kid Stuff
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So sorry, I haven’t been keeping up here much lately. I’m not THAT busy with anything in particular, it just seems that once I’ve checked my e-mail, read a few blogs, and posted Leanne’s latest missive, my online time is up. Anyway, I hope you have been following her posts, she is having an INCREDIBLE time in Finland, both teaching the Word of God, and hearing Him through the children there. Here’s an exerpt from her last e-mail/post:

Yesterday our lesson was on birds – I wanted to talk about something they would see and connect with everyday. We took a look at an egg and I compared that to the cave where they laid Jesus. When first you see an egg you may not think it is beautiful or special. It does not look as though something is happening inside but rest assured, there is. It does not appear as though life would soon begin to move and crack the little egg but of course, it does. Just like it did with that cave where they laid Jesus. I’ll tell you what – I was amazed at what occurred during the lesson.

First, we began class by playing some games connected with the lesson, then we fed the ducks and we came back in where I let them guess what animal we might be talking about. I gave them enough clues and they finally guessed that it was a bird. Then, I jumped in my lesson – I told them I now wanted to tell them about something that happened to Gods’ son, Jesus. I like to ‘throw’ them off – keep them guessing and then later connect the two things together in order that they will not soon forget. Ha, yesterday – I was so beaten to the ‘punch line’ – When I was almost through with the lesson one of the little girls from this temple *please remember her mother said they had NEVER heard any stories from the Bible as far as she knew prior to our class. Okay, so, I’m telling the story and one of the little girls with eyes as big as you can imagine just couldn’t help herself. She interrupted me and began speaking so excitedly in Finnish to Roman. I’m certain you’ve guessed it but, she was telling him that the story of Jesus sounded a lot like when the baby birds come out of the egg! That the two stories are very similar. Oh, my – she connected it on her own. She taught the lesson – and she taught it much more eloquently than I ever could have. Roman and I were stunned. WOW! Do you think the Lord is calling to her or what? I am certain that she will never look at an egg or a bird the same ever again. She will probably forever remember our Lord and His promises when she looks up into the sky to watch the Barn swallows fly above the clouds. How incredible is our God!!! I can’t help but think she is going to share that story with her friends and her family. Can’t you just imagine her being in the school playground as a flock of birds fly overhead and she begins re-telling the story of our Lord. Or, perhaps her mom will call her in after she has baked some cookies one day and as she sits down to take the first delicious bite she looks over and sees a cracked egg still on the counter and again she re-tells His story. I don’t know how or when it will happen – I am just certain that it will. Again, can I just say, How incredible is our God!!

Wow. I’ve been a Christian all my life, and yet that analogy has never occured to me. I have tears through most of her posts — get a tissue and click over there now!

Categories : Christian Stuff
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Jul
19

Church vs. Social Club

Posted by: Gem | Comments (5)

Patrick Mead has another great post up at Tent Pegs, his insight about what the church is — and isn’t — is veeeeery convicting! Here’s a little taste:

Jesus did not go to Calvary so I don’t have to go to the movies by myself . . .
We do not need to turn churches into social clubs for the religiously inclined. We do not need to look at it as a hospital, either (Oooohhh…. listen to the knees jerk! They sound like crickets!). Hospitals exist to make us feel better, be healed, and ready to re-engage our previous lives. Emergency Room waiting areas don’t look like heaven to me (more like… you know…).

Although I agree that this isn’t the church’s main purpose, I think there is a legitimate ‘filling up’ we get from Sunday worship before we go back into the weekly fray. But Patrick’s right. There’s a whole other purpose there, one we tend to forget.

Church is where we go to worship the God who didn’t leave us in the ditch, who created us in His image, who gifted us and placed us as He desired, and who then gave us other people on the same road with whom to pray and whom we can serve.

Preach it, brother!

Categories : Christian Stuff
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Jul
18

Great New Blog

Posted by: Gem | Comments (0)

Check out His Girl in Tampere, the adventures of my friend Leanne in Finland. She went with a mission team from our church and is staying an extra month by herself to carry on the work there until another member of our church can return. I kept reading her e-mails, thinking “Wow, this is great stuff, she should blog it!”, so I e-mailed her and got permission to set up a blog for her. She feels like she’s computer-illiterate, so I set it all up for her and am copying her e-mails to the blog. Please check back often to see what she’s up to!

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Jul
17

New Look

Posted by: Gem | Comments (2)

Just trying out one of the new themes that Ron and Andrea have put together for us. I know, it doesn’t have a header for the name of my blog, but rest assured, you are at My So-Called Homeschool!

Update:  Didn’t like it!  It was cute, just wasn’t me.  So back to this one for now.

Categories : Uncategorized
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Jul
16

Blogging Chicks Carnival #6 Is Up

Posted by: Gem | Comments (0)

And I’m on it! The theme this week was dreams. As usual, I’m on a totally different wavelength — most are on a more inspirational, self-examining kind of vibe. Mine? Just wacky!

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Jul
12

I’m naked and no one but me has noticed!

Posted by: Gem | Comments (20)

Do you ever have weird dreams? I don’t know if I ever have normal ones — maybe those are the ones I don’t remember. Some reccuring dreams I have are:

1)The naked dream. I’m at work, church, or school (yep, I go back in time) and suddenly I look down and my girls are hanging out. I guess technically I’m only half-naked. Anyway, I spend the rest of the dream trying to act normal while scheming on how to find an extra shirt lying around. People pass me and talk to me, and never notice! I just keep acting ‘normal’ About the time someone really embarassing, like a preacher or boss or teacher shows up, I wake up. Does this mean that I feel exposed somehow in real life?

2)The unprepared for something dream. This one can go two different directions. One is that I’m in college, it’s finals week, and there’s a class that I totally forgot I had and haven’t attended yet. Or maybe I’ve attended it, but suddenly I can’t remember when it is or where and there’s a final coming up. Anyway, I spend the dream panicking and trying to figure out what the name of the class is. The other way this dream can go is that I’m in some kind of play or musical and suddenly it’s opening night. I have managed to procrastinate (imagine that, me procrastinate!) learning my lines, so the curtain’s coming up and I’m trying to figure out what I’m supposed to say. Mercifully, I always wake up or the dream shifts before I start to ad lib. I suck at ad libbing. This one’s no surprise — I constantly procrastinate, am constantly forgetting stuff, and am constantly unprepared. Not to that extent, but it doesn’t surprise me that I dream about it too.

Do your dreams do that? Morph into something totally different right in the middle? For instance, you’re in a house eating dinner, you stand up and suddenly you’re in an office meeting. Mine do that all the time!

I don’t think I ever want my dreams interpreted. I’m afraid what it might tell me about myself!!! What are your dreams saying?

Categories : Uncategorized
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Jul
10

Blogging Chicks Carnival #5 Is Up

Posted by: Gem | Comments (1)

Blogging Chicks Carnival.jpg

This is such a fun blog group, if you’re a chick and you blog you should join! Weekly carnivals showcase a very eclectic group of ladies (I haven’t written anythign Carnival-worthy yet), it’s a fun tour around the blogosphere. Click on the chick and read on . . .

Categories : Uncategorized
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Jul
08

I never thought I’d say as a mom . . .

Posted by: Gem | Comments (4)

I’m so glad your butt is working properly now, but you need to FLUSH when you POOP!

Categories : Kid Stuff
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Jul
06

I Am Such a Dork!

Posted by: Gem | Comments (7)

I actually posted ON my birthday (the 3rd) and did not mention it, lol! It was a pretty anti-climactic day. Squid took me out Saturday night, we saw X-men 3: The Final Stand (hated the ending!) and went to dinner at Amigos, a local Mexican restaurant. Yeah, I work in Mexicantown and we ate Mexican in a suburb. Go figure! Sunday we had a picnic at church — it’s so nice of them to do that for my birthday every year – hah! Squid had to work Monday, but the girls felt it wouldn’t be fair if we didn’t go to Red Robin after he got off work. They were so worried the waitress wouldn’t know it was my birthday and I wouldn’t get the goofy birthday song. They should have known, Daddy was on top of it. We came home, and I blogged a little and went to bed with a slight headache.

The 4th came along and Squid was working again. We didn’t plan anything to do — which turned out to be a good thing, since that headache didn’t go away but just lurked, and when I lay down for a nap BAM! It turned into a migraine. I don’t them very often, but this one was a doozy. Of course, by the time Monkey Boy woke up I was into the nausea stage and he was right there.

“Whatcha doin mom?”

“Barfing, son”

“Oh.”

“GO AWAY!”

“It’s OK mom, you not sick. You OK mom!”

Oh, that his words would make it so! Jasmine and Pink Pixie were out at friends’ houses playing, but they happened to come back home and distracted Monkey for a while. I lay for about 30 minutes with a cold washcloth over my eyes and POOF! it disappeared. Thank goodness!

Anyway, that was my holiday weekend. Welcome to the excitement that is my life!

Categories : Family Stuff
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Jul
03

2996 Tribute

Posted by: Gem | Comments (1)

2996 Candles.jpg

I’ve been finding posts all over the web, in very different blogs, mentioning D.C. Roe’s 2996 Tribute to the 2,996 people who died as a result of the 911 attacks. It’s amazing, people from all over the world, as well as from every imaginable political point of view, are volunteering to do a simple post on one person who died that day. I haven’t received my name yet, but should find out shortly. To date, he has over 700 participants in one short month. If momentum builds as it usually does on the web, he should have no problem finding 2,996 participants by 911. Especially if you click over and join!  Just click on the picture above, and leave a comment on any post there to participate.

Categories : Blog Stuff, Other Stuff
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Jul
02

New Schedule

Posted by: Gem | Comments (1)

I’m sitting here at 8:45 am blogging instead of later in the day because I’m now working afternoons again. I started this part-time job at an inner-city daycare working 3pm until the count went down to where they didn’t need me (around 5:30 or so). It wasn’t many hours, and yes I was driving to Detroit for just a couple of hours a day, but the pay still helped out around the house even with the price of gas. I can’t get another job where I can bring my kids along, and Squid’s schedule is so constantly changing that I can’t schedule anything around him. I was working in one of the preschool rooms, the Green Room, with 3 and 4 year olds. They were making me crazy! I am not really temperamentally suited for working with large groups of young belligerent kids. I don’t know how to describe most of these kids. It’s beyond the normal defiance of stamping a foot and yelling NO!. Most of them just look through you like “Was someone talking to me?” when you try to correct them. Well, those are the ones who aren’t deliberately challenging you — again, beyond the normal boundary pushing of this age. Anyway, between feeling like I just wasn’t any good at what I was doing and getting home after dark (I started in February) with dinner being pushed later and later, I was really not liking my job. (Massive understatement) So when my boss, who incidentally is my minister’s wife, came to me to see if I’d like to move to the toddler room at 7am, I jumped at the chance! I can handle temper tantrums when they’re actually age-appropriate. Monkey Boy is in that class, which has worked out pretty well. And I figured we would be done by 11am and have the rest of the day to do schooling or whatever. But . . . things never work out quite the way you think they will. What actually ended up happening was we’d go in at 7am (me, up at 5:30, kids up at 6, out the door at 6:20), then I’d work til 11. I have some heartbreaking stories to tell about these kids, but I’m not sure if I’m going to do that here. Like I said, my boss’s husband is my minister and I know he reads this blog. I’m just not sure what would be appropriate. Anyway, we’d get home by 12 or so — I never left right on time — and then we’d have lunch and nap about 1. Monkey would of course fall asleep on the way home and think he’d had his nap for the day! He was sequestered to his crib anyway for an hour or two. I would drag my sorry butt out of bed around 3 or 4. The day is shot! Time to think about dinner. Then I wouldn’t be very sleepy to go to bed early so I’d be beat the next morning again. And so the cycle went. Just before I switched to the early morning shift, I had a miscarriage, then a day after I switched, my co-worker miscarried a couple of weeks later so I ended up actually working nearly full-time, we’re trying to potty train Monkey Boy and put him in a toddler bed (Whose idea was that to do those at the same time? They should be shot!), and other and sundry life happenings. I think moving back to an afternoon shift might actually work at least for summer. Even though we won’t get home til dinner time, we can eat a little late and the girls can still go out and play with their friends after dinner.

I don’t know how long I can do this job. It just sucks the life out of me. Besides issues with the kids that are draining, there is a lot of drama among the workers (again, won’t go into it for now anyway). PLUS, you know that homeschooling thing I do so my kids won’t be picking up a lot of bad attitudes from school? Yeah, that doesn’t work so well when you take them to daycare with you in the inner city. They are getting some very bad habits — from 3, 4, and 5 year olds no less! We talk about it and try to make a life lesson of it, but I think there’s just too much reinforcement there. But whenever I bring it up to Squid, he just looks at me with this I-really-hate-to-say-this look and says “You know, it is really helping out, though.” Until his possible full-time position solidifies, I’m stuck here. We’ve been praying about it, but it seems the answer is “Wait” for now. I’m holding on by my fingernails in the meantime . . .

(Yes, I know that it says 4:19 pm is when this posted, but I drafted this a couple of mornings ago and had to finish it later.)

Categories : Family Stuff
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