I’m sorry the first part was so long.  I will try to make this one shorter.

That night after listening to the car radio Chris decided to drive to a neighboring town to get gas because they were across the state line and had power.  He returned home around midnight and let me know about a certain subdivision that had been hit hard for the second time in 16 years.  My heart sank.  Just how bad is the damage?  We had no clue.

The next morning, Chris had to go into work for a brief meeting.   I was trying to figure out what to do.  We had no power, so I couldn’t get online to find out anything, I couldn’t do laundry, we couldn’t watch TV and breakfast was a bowl of cereal and yes that meant, NO COFFEE!!  We had originally planned to visit Chris’ Dad and Step Mom this weekend, were we going to be able to do that?  Chris’ job kept telling everyone in his Dept to “stay close”.  I guess that’s what happens when your in the IT dept for a company.   They wanted everyone that could close in case the systems crashed (which of course were being ran by generators).  I really needed my hair washed, sorry, I know, Gross!  But I really did and was afraid to tackle it by myself.  See my injury was on the back of my head, I couldn’t see it!  So anyways, I was having a hard time not being discouraged.

About an hour later Chris came home with my sister and her husband following close behind.  They came to help clear the tree and she brought a camp stove, eggs and a french press which meant, COFFEE!!!!  Hallelujah!!!   I cried when I saw her, she was a sight for sore eyes.  Her being here also meant someone could wash my hair, things were looking up!!

As the day progressed we gradually got reports of the power outage lasting anywhere from 5-7 days!  We finally got to the point of having cell service and were able to receive calls and make a few calls.  We made our plans and headed to Tennessee to visit Chris’ Dad where we could rest and heal.

As we drove out of town listening to the radio and hearing all the reports of damage, my heart broke for all the loss, pain and destruction.  So many people lost homes, portions of their homes, businesses, loved ones.  It was incredible, the path one particular EF5 tornado took, it started in Hackleburg, AL and traveled 106.9 miles to Franklin, TN, covering four counties in AL and one county in TN.  It was 1.25 mile wide and had winds of 210 mph!   Wow.  I was blown away when I heard that info.  Blown away.  I silently prayed for all those hurting people coming through the rubble of what used to be their home, or those who had lost loved ones.  I prayed for friends I hadn’t heard from yet, wondering and hoping they were ok.  I prayed for my family who was traveling to NC to stay with relatives till the power came on.  I prayed that our house would be safe, that it wouldn’t smell too bad when we got home.  And how my heart wanted to stay home helping all these hurting people.

Once we got to TN Thursday night, we were so thankful for a dry home to stay in, warm showers, electricity, warm food.  We could see pictures of the damage and destruction so close to our home and the area we live.  The desire to be home and help grew stronger and stronger.  But I would need to be patient, my head had to heal, Chris had flown to Virginia for Military duty and had asked us to wait till we had power to go home.  So Riley and I stayed at Grandpa and Meme Macks for almost a week.  We had a good time, we visited Cades Cove and the Titanic, both of those I counted as school days!  The other days we did school and hung out with Grandpa and Meme Mack.   When we got power late Tuesday afternoon, Grandpa said he could drive us home the next day.

It was so good to be home, to check on friends, neighbors.  It was good to see a dear friend and hug her neck as she told us of all the trees they lost.  She was so thankful none of them had fallen on the house they are building!  We stopped by Mom’s and checked on her, then went to the grocery store to stock up on a few things.  It was good to be home.

God is good, and sometimes our plans are not His plans.  Although my heart was here in  Alabama it was good to have a time to heal in Tennessee with loving Grandparents.   There were so  many stories of people helping each other, being the hands and feet of Jesus.  Our church jumped out there and got right in the middle of the hardest hit areas and helped many people with removing debris, putting tarps on roofs, cutting trees, or just giving a bottle of cold water.  Many other churches and individuals jumped in and joined the forces of helping clean up after the storms.  What a blessing to see so many people coming together to help those in need.

Is your child struggling with learning how to count money?  Do they need some practice?  Do they tend to get the coins mixed up?  Or do they want to have some fun?  Maybe make a little money once in a while?

Well here are some ways we have helped Riley learn to count money and given him more opportunities to practice.

Dixie Bathroom Cups

This was actually given to me by a friend who homeschools her girls.  She took a few Dixie Bathroom Cups, you know the small ones?  She would pick out a handful of coins and write the amount on the bottom of the cup.  She would hand the cup with the coins inside to her child and ask her to count what was in the cup.  Then her daughter could verify the amount on the bottom of the cup.  We would use this idea in between subjects or when I needed a moment to get something together.  It was definitely a good way to practice for Riley.

Pocket Change

Every couple of days or so, Chris would come in the door from work and lay a handful of change on the table.  He would put his stuff down and call Riley in the room.  After a hug hello he would sit beside Riley as he counted all the coins laying on the table.  Sometimes it could be a couple of dollars worth of coins.  At first Riley would complain, “Not again Dad!”  But once he started getting the hang of identifying the coins and counting the money he enjoyed it.  Especially if Dad decided to give the money to Riley!    That made it even more appealing!

Rolling Coins

We have a jar that we would add coins to whenever we had spare change.  After a while the jar was completely full and it was time to roll the coins.  So Riley and I sat at the kitchen table one night rolling coins.  Counting by 5’s, 10’s, and 25’s. learning what it took to make $10 in quarters or $2 in nickels.  He enjoyed it and seemed to get a better grasp on counting money.

Playing Store

Riley always enjoyed it when we would play store during school.   We would pull things from the pantry, toys from his room and school supplies from the school room.  We set them up and put prices on them.  He would come through “the store” and pick out his merchandise and then check them out with the cashier.   A fun way to learn and play at the same time.

Putting Him on the Spot!

Of course there is always the difficult task of putting him on the spot and making him count his money to the cashier if he is purchasing something.  It is a little bit of a struggle at first but eventually he got it.  Thankfully the cashier was usually patient and there weren’t a lot of people in line behind us.  They will eventually need to do it anyways, why not practice?

Toy money

I bought a tray of toy money.  We used it during our lessons and during our practice time.  It came in very handy.

These are ideas that worked for us.  What have you used?  What worked really well with your child?  I’d love to hear your ideas.

I have to be honest with you, I don’t exactly know where to start, I have so much I want to tell you.  I know, the beginning is always the best place so I guess I will start there.

I think I know the answer to this question, but have you ever  experienced something and then looked back on it and saw where God had his fingers on it?  I’m sure some of you have.  Here in North Alabama we have had a time such as that.  On April 27th, a record 28 tornadoes touched down throughout the Northern portion of our state causing chaos and havoc, terror and destruction.  Check out these two maps that show the paths of the tornadoes.

National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

This really cool map from the Portland Oregon Weather Blog

In all my years of living in Kansas (13 yrs) and now Alabama (21 yrs), I have never experienced a tornado till now.  Riley and I got up that morning to a tornado warning and storms but it was North of us so there was no need for us to worry.  We ate breakfast and got school going as quickly as we could.  We had gymnastics at noon and it always goes better if we can get Bible, Math and Language done before then and save the lighter subjects for afterwards if we have to.   Around 11:15 or so, I had the TV on so I could watch the weather as we were finishing up and getting ready to eat.  I love that our weather meteorologists have the ability to let you know where it will hit and approximately at what time.  That is so helpful!   As I was watching I knew we had a little bit of time to eat lunch before a storm/tornado hit.   Just as Riley finished eating his lunch the meteorologist said a strong storm with 90 mph winds was getting ready to hit our area.  I sent Riley to my closet immediately as I was watching out the front door.   I didn’t have to stand there long before I heard thunder and saw lightening.  Next thing I knew the trees out front where bending over, It was here.  I flew to my closet and shut the door.  Lady and Riley were huddled under the blanket on the floor.  I heard what sounded like a freight train going over our house, it was constant, never a break in the sound until it ended about 5 to 7 minutes later.  The TV blinked off and on a couple of times in the midst of the noise, telling me the power had gone off.   I kept thinking to myself, this is not just a storm but it has to be a tornado the way it sounded!  Thankfully the power came back on and all was quiet.  We crept to the front door and found we had lost most of our Bradford Pear tree out front.   I called Chris to tell him we were ok, and tell him about the tree.  As we were talking, I walked around outside noticing one side of our fence was down and a shutter was torn in half.

You might notice behind our tree, our neighbor across the street also lost a Bradford Pear tree in her front yard.

I began to feel so thankful that was all the damage that was done and it was minimal compared to what it could have been.  As I went inside the meteorologist was reporting another storm headed our way.  Again, I sent Riley to the closet as I called my mother to check on her, she lives less than five minutes away.  She was in her car in the carline picking up my niece at school.  As we talked the storm hit, shaking her car quite a bit.  We both stayed on the phone praying that she would be protected.  Thankfully it passed quickly and she was able to get my niece and go home.  I also grabbed an opportunity to check on a couple of friends who both lost several trees on their property.

Chris had suggested that I see about getting the chain saw from my mom so he could tackle cutting up the tree later that evening.  So after she made it home and the weather calmed some, we jumped in the truck  and headed over to her house to pick up the chain saw.  We didn’t stick around long because another storm was on it’s way.  We pulled in our driveway just as the rain started coming down hard.  I got Riley inside and went to get the chain saw in the garage so it didn’t get wet.   Now our driveway collects water in areas and dirt has washed out of the yard and packed into these areas causing them to be slippery.  I knew that and was being cautious about how I walked and where I stepped.  Well, that didn’t seem to matter because as I got to the back of the truck, my feet flew out from under me, I landed on my bottom and my head flew back and struck the cement.  I immediately cried, “God, help me!”, all I could think of was Riley and I didn’t need to pass out or worse so please protect me.  I sat up and knew instantly I had done something to the back of my head, the pain was excruciating!  I carefully went inside and got a clean towel to put on my head.  I told Riley to call Chris as I called my neighbor to get her to assess the damage.  She took one quick look and said, “I’m taking you to the urgent care, Chris can meet us there.”  Riley told Chris where we were going and to meet us there.  As we all piled into her car the radio announcer said, “tornado headed towards Madison county, Monrovia, Harvest, Toney.”  That was us… we looked at each other and she said, “Pray!”  I prayed so hard that we would get there safely and in one piece.  Again, God protected us and after being rerouted three different times because of downed trees and power lines, we made it.  Chris actually beat us there and was wondering where we were!

My neighbor took Riley home with her and Chris and I worked on getting checked in to the urgent care.  I was so mad at myself for this happening today of all days!  But I was also so afraid I had a fracture or concussion.   Chris and I sat in the waiting room praying for peace, healing and comfort.  Praying for protection over Riley, my neighbor and her grandsons.  Praying for protection over all of our family, friends and loved ones in our area.   They finally put me in a room and Mom showed up!  I had called her as left the house and she did everything she could to get there.  She too was rerouted and had to take detours but made it.  Nothing keeps a Momma from her hurt child!  No matter how old her child is!  The Doctor came in shortly and assessed my head and called for stitches and a CT scan.

Shortly after mom got there, the power went out in the urgent care, another tornado was on its way.  They started evacuating all the rooms but mine because it was an interior room.  Again, Mom, Chris and I bowed our heads praying for protection over us, our families, Riley, my neighbor, our area.  A little later, after things calmed down, the doctor came in and suggested that we go ahead and do the stitches and maybe come back tomorrow for the CT scan?  That sounded good to us, we were getting hungry and wanted to go home.  So finally after 8 stitches by flashlight and approximately 4 hours of waiting we headed out into another storm.

Yes, you read correctly, as we left the hospital with Mom following us in her car, the radio announced another tornado in the area, that seemed to be right above us.   We pulled over and looked around, waiting and praying.  We tried and tried to get a hold of someone by phone, various family members, neighbors, friends and we couldn’t, cell phone service was minimal at best.

I knew I needed to alleviate the pain in my head that was now revealing itself as the lydocaine was wearing off.  We needed a pharmacy.  As soon as we felt it was ok, we drove down the road and found a Publix that appeared to have no power but was open.  Chris ran inside while Mom and I waited in our cars.  Again I sought the Lord and His mercy that Chris would be able to get the prescription filled without difficulty, that Mom and I would be protected in our cars.  We were also in need of food but were quickly realizing that we would need to go home and eat whatever was there.  No one had power!

After my prescription was filled, we drove home surveying the damage along the road.  Trees were down everywhere, in yards and on houses.  Water ran across the road, sometimes in large quantities.  The sky was yellow and dark, there were no street lights or lights on at houses.  As we pulled up to our dark house, we went inside and I started making sandwiches (by candle light) while Chris ran across the street to get Riley.  A few minutes later Riley came in and buried his face in my shirt and gave me a big hug.  “Are you ok, Mom?”  I told him I was and about my stitches.  He smiled with big relief and I asked him about his experience.  He and his buddies hid under the staircase, playing Legos and had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  “Were you scared?”  I asked him.  “Yes, we were a little bit, especially when the power went out.  But Mrs. Barbara (our neighbor) was really brave!”  I am so thankful for loving, brave neighbors!!  The three of us sat down on the couch, in the dark and talked about all we were thankful for.  Life, God’s protection, our home, food, each other and much more.

This is My account of Our experience on April 27, 2011.    What we experienced was minor in comparison to so many others.  On this day many lives were changed in so many ways.  People lost their homes, loved ones or sustained major damage.  Many incredible stories have risen from that day.   There is much more to share with you, I will post more later.  Till next time.

Well, I can tell you this has been an exciting week.  Not only for my son but for me as well.  As I accepted this challenge, (yes, I was late) I was looking forward to what God was going to do in Riley.  It never entered my mind that I would experience change as well.  This week we prayed for a servant’s heart, honor, love, joy and peace in our sons.  As I prayed these things, an urgency was created in me to continue, to stick with it, to make this a priority.  I have prayed for Riley in the past, I’ve prayed for specific things but it was always a ‘laundry list’ of things for him.  I’ve never really prayed scripture and inserted his name, thereby making it real or personal for him.  What a blessing it has been to pray scripture like this one;  “May Riley have a wise man’s heart inclining him to the right, and not a fool’s heart inclining to the left (Ecclesiastes 10:2)”  Thinking of Daniel whom we’ve been studying in Bible.  Daniel was bold enough to stand for what is right, he did not lean to the left even when his life depended on it.  Oh, that Riley could make the right choice when it comes down to it!

Today I have prayed for peace for him.  He is being baptized tomorrow night!  Praise the Lord!!  We are so excited.  Chris and I have prayed for this for several years now.  Riley had asked Christ into his heart when he was 5 but he wasn’t ready for baptism.  He would say, “no, not yet…”  or we would talk to him about it and he would say, “ok” as if he was processing the information and thinking on it.  We didn’t want to pressure him, so when he told us he was ready we both about leaped for joy!

I asked him if he was scared, he said a little, but he was excited.  So I reassured him that all would be well and he would be taken good care of by the pastor.  I’m still praying for peace for him so he can look back and remember this with joy!

It has been a blessing to pray for our sons together and I look forward to reading all about your accounts as you pray for your sons.

Blessings to you!

21 Days of Prayer for Sons is a prayer challenge for mothers of boys based on the eBook Warrior Prayers: Praying the Word for Boys in the Areas They Need it Most.

So this challenge started on April 1st and goes to April 29, 2011 and yes, I’m late but I think that’s OK.  Better late than never, right?  So here on day 11 I am getting started with this challenge.  I look forward to seeing what God is going to do in my son’s life.  I have a feeling this challenge will do something in my life as well.

So join me and many other Mom’s who desire to see God work in and mold our little men’s life into what He made them to be as we pray 10 prayers each day.  These prayers are based on scripture from God’s Word and are written in the ebook.  You can get your copy here.  Whether you have a blog or not, you can link up on Brooks page and follow with us to see what God is doing as we all pray for our sons over the next couple of weeks.  If you don’t have a blog you can also link up with Facebook or Twitter.

If you read my previous post you may have seen the little man I will be praying for in this challenge.  If not, here he is my little man in motion.

My son is always in a state of motion!  The only time he sits still is when he has time to play video games.  That one reason why his video game time is limited…   Even at the dinner table, he is finally staying in his chair but that foot or leg is always moving.  I am linking up with Erin at Home With The Boys to see our ‘Boys in Motion’.  Won’t you join us?

Here is my Riley in motion…

He loves to swim, can you tell?

He has recently started taking Gymnastics and loves it!

Always a ham.

I too grew up in a house full of girls, the eldest of five.  So when God gave my husband and I a little boy, I almost panicked.  Of course I was happy, but also a little scared.  I didn’t know how to raise a little boy, I knew girls.   But I was also ready for the change in scenery!  God equips us for what lies ahead doesn’t He?

Check this out!  You can download the audio book The Hiding Place by Cory Ten Boom free from Christian Audio the month of April.  I just downloaded my copy, are you going to get yours?

Saturday started bright and early for us since we had finally decided to have a garage sale.  After about 6 months to a year of gathering ‘STUFF’ to go in this garage sale we were glad to get it done and over with.  It went well, but we wished it could have gone a little better. It’s funny how you put all this effort into getting all that stuff in the garage sale to make a little bit of money, then when its all said and done, the stuff you have left over you don’t want to mess with anymore.  We now have two different donate piles.  We’ll deliver those later this week.  We did get to meet some neighbors we hadn’t met before so that was an added blessing!  I also met two fellow homeschooling Mom’s and one was in the same covering as us!

Riley did pretty well, he was motivated to make some money!  I was surprised at the number of things he came up with to sell, in the end he made over $20.00!  Not too bad for a 9 year old boy! He decided to sell this old, beat up, guitar that our neighbor had given him when he was two or three.  It had a couple of dents where he had been slinging it around and it was missing some strings.  This elderly man came by and asked Riley how much he would take for the guitar.  Riley said, “Five dollars sir.”  (!!)  The man hesitated and said, “hmmm, I’ll have to think about it.”  I knew that was too much but yet I knew Riley wanted to make some money.  So I suggested that he come down off the price some.  Riley ran back outside and said, “How about $2 sir?”  The man said, “You got a deal son!”  He then asked Riley what he was going to do with the money and when Riley said he was going to put it in savings the man said, “here is one more.”  So Riley sold that old, beat up, dented, string missing guitar for $3.  I appreciated the man showing Riley the benefits of saving money.  You know it always helps when those principles you are teaching your children are reinforced by someone else!  The man thanked Riley for his business and said “I really don’t need this guitar but I wanted to help you make some money.”  Riley thanked the man and stuck his money in his pocket, to go in savings later.

Throughout his toddler years Chris’ mother always made sure Riley had a  good pair of cowboy boots to wear to church.  So, when I found three pairs of them in the bag of shoes, I had to get a picture of them.  They were so cute and all the memories of Riley stomping around in those boots made me smile and I thought it made a cute picture.

Yes, the pair on the far left are what he wore this year.  I just love seeing the difference in size and the tiny ones are just as cute as they can be!  A couple stopped by the garage sale and had their two year old daughter with them.  Her dad picked up both of the smaller pair and tried his hardest to get them on her feet, but they would not go.  That would have been cute too!

After the garage sale the rest of the day was spent at two different birthday parties.  One for my niece and one for my nephew.  I managed to get a picture of all the girls and Riley under Mom’s peach tree at Abby’s birthday.  Yes, to his chagrin, he was the only boy.  It was ok at first but after a while, he was ready for some ‘guy time’.

I was hoping the girls would lean against the trunk and strike some cute pose with Riley up in the tree but they wouldn’t go near the tree because of the bees.  Girls!   I think it turned out cute anyways.

Finally Riley got his guy time at my nephew Calvin’s birthday party.  It was his dream play time, Nerf guns and forts!  He had a great time but the long eventful day quickly caught up with all three of us.  Before we new it, we were ready to go home and hit the hay!  As we drove home recounting the events of the day, we were thankful for lessons learned, memories to recall and excellent family time!

Sunday rolled around and we took off for Church.  Our Pastor has started a new sermon series on the Beauty of God.  It was so good and definitely gave me a new perspective on His beauty.  I’ve always thought of it being within God’s creation but theres more to His beauty than just the creation….I can’t wait to hear next Sunday’s message.

After church we had one more birthday party to attend, Riley’s buddy Cory had a skating party.  All the boys had a good time and skated till they couldn’t skate anymore!  It was nice to sit and talk with dear friends and make some new ones.

It was a full weekend but the blessings out way the tiredness that hit us quickly at the end of each day.  God is good!  We thank Him for Family, Friends, A church home and family and the beautiful weather that we had all weekend long.

In our history lesson, we just learned about a certain man who was a soldier, leader and a helper.  He traveled from Holland on the Mayflower to America with his wife.  During that long, first winter, many pilgrims got sick and many died.  In spite of the difficult times he would look for ways to help.  He took care of the sick, gave them water, and helped with many other responsibilities around the fort.  He also became the Captain of the fort Plymouth.  So to help Riley think like this man and be a helper we  made him a hat.  Keeping it very simple using construction paper, tape and a glue stick.

Can you guess who he is?  In real life he had red hair and was very short but was very brave.  He made friends with Samoset.  Who am I?

In my opinion, its a very crude example of a pilgrim hat, but I got a “Thanks Mom!” and a hug for it!  He came running back in to the kitchen, “I look like Indiana Jones!  Or is it the Mad Hatter?”   Hehehe!  I think we should pick Indian Jones, don’t you?  He was pleased, that is all that  matters.

Now we  are off to Church this evening.  I’m looking forward to hear what God has to say tonight.   I hope y’all have a blessed Wednesday!

Some of you may be trying to decide how to educate your children.  Should we put them in public school?  What about private schools?  What about that homeschooling option that I’ve heard of?  Can we do that?  How do we decide?  Well, I can tell you how we reached our decision to homeschool, our thoughts and fears.

When Riley was born, I never would have imagined that I would be homeschooling him.  A dear friend of mine who at that time had been homeschooling two of her girls, had one getting ready to start and one on the way.  She and I would talk and I would hear of her homeschooling adventures, the good and the bad.  I remember thinking some of it sounded fun but some of it sounded really intimidating!  I guess at that time, my first thought that we would just send Riley to public school when the time came.  Boy was I wrong!  As Riley grew and life kept right on going, things changed around our home and within my husband Chris and I.  I quit my job as an Ophthalmic assistant when Riley was 3 1/2 and came home to become a SAHM.  We began to heavily pray about where Riley would go to school when he turned 5.  It was amazing how God worked in our hearts and grew us to a point that we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what we had to do.  At first, my thoughts on homeschooling were fear based.  Thoughts like Riley being harassed by a bully, teased, learning about life changes (puberty, procreation etc.) from someone other than Chris and I, or being caught up in drugs of some type.   These thoughts became my reason for keeping Riley home and teaching him all he would need to know. I was however, still very intimidated by the idea of being Riley’s teacher.   How could I know what all to teach him?  I could barely remember everything I learned in highschool, let alone elementary school.  However, while I was praying in a very selfish and fearful way, my husband was praying in such a way to seek God’s will for our family.

In 2004, Riley was just getting ready to turn 4 and Chris and I approached the issue of homeschooling one more time.  He was getting ready to ship out to Iraq in a couple of months so we needed to get the decision made.  By this time the intimidation was getting the best of me and overthrowing the fear factor.  I had about made up MY mind that I was NOT going to teach Riley, I was not qualified.  Well, God had other things in mind, remember, He is not a God of fear or intimidation, but a God of all possibilities.  Chris asked me where I stood on homeschooling.  I proceeded to tell him all my fears and intimidating factors, to which he quickly comforted me and reminded me of all my possibilities with God on our side.  He said that he felt very confident we were to homeschool and keep Riley home.  He felt it was best to evaluate the situation each semester/year and see where we were and what God was leading us to do at that time.

Since that decision our homeschooler’s journey has been full force, speed ahead!!  In fact, when we started kindergarten work here at home, I was so excited about our studies that my dear friend that I mentioned earlier in this post had to keep reminding me what we were doing and how old Riley was!  I can’t tell you how many times she would say, “Lyn!  It’s just kindergarten!”  “Let him have fun, he will learn all he needs to learn in due time…”.  We did have fun and I did tone down my excitement about the things we did not have to focus on at that time.  I finally learned to relax and have fun, and develope a system or schedule that works for Riley and I.   Now that he is 9, I am so thankful for the opportunity to teach my son what Chris and I feel is necessary for him to learn.  It has been a joy, a struggle, lots of learning, and lots of fun!  I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.  So for now, we keep on plugging at our lessons and praying our way through them, through those days that we both are tired of school.  Won’t you join us on our Homeschooler’s Journey?