Abiding Faith

Well Christmas has come and gone. Christmas was just they way I envisioned it for years--Holy and still. God has been teaching me patience and to be still and listen all year. To finally get it on Christmas was such a Blessing and Grace. I am so grateful for His patience. This has been a year of struggles for us, financially, and spiritually, but our Faith has flourished. This is what God truly wants us to see. Homeschooling has been such a Blessing to me this past year. I finally been able to see the fruits of my labor over the last three years. I can see God in them like I never did before. The Rosary has become the center of our strength. I found adoration online--www.savior.org , so I have been able to do adoration at night after everyone goes to sleep. Through Advent and Christmas, I kept hearing resounding over and over--Mary's simple yes changed the world. Our simple Yes will bring joy to our life and the next life with Jesus. I have come along way this past 4 years. The world teaches us to have a successful career and climb up the ladder of success--but at what price. Through Homeschooling and giving it all up, I found my success in my family and God to be what I was missing all those years that I was searching. When I say Homeschooling was a Blessing, it was. It truly saved my life and soul. Greg is getting laid off in February officially. We have prayed and realized that this is truly a Blessing. God has change for us in the new year coming. I will keep you all updated. Through all of this our faith has becomes stronger, abiding faith. Always remember when God closes a rotting door , he opens a beautiful window somewhere else. Thank you all for prayers, please keep praying. Thanks!


Praising Him Joyfully,
Noelle

Saint Nicholas Feast Day Dec. 6

Here is a prayer for Saint Nicholas:

ST. NICHOLAS PRAYER

St. Nicholas, patron of children, may this candy cane, shaped like your Bishop's staff, be a reminder of Advent joy. Help us prepare for the miracle of the coming of Jesus. Help us not to be blind to the gifts of getting ready. Help us be sincere in the greetings we send and receive, with love and prayer. Kind St. Nicholas, protect us from shoppers' fatigue, help us to be kind and generous of heart. Wherever candy canes are hung, may they bring the bright blessings of God. Let them be reminders of the joy of sharing and our call to be God's peaceful children as we wait for Jesus. St. Nicholas, pray for us! AMEN!

God's Lessons and Gifts

Since I was little my Gift to God has been my positive attitude no matter has happened in my life. My smile has helped me remember God in walk everyday of life with him. Yesterday was the first time in along time I was ever really nervous going into a doctor's office. I have an awesome doctor though. He told me that the cyst had shrunk and it was a benign cyst. He told me many other things I wrote down about vitamin supplements he wanted me to take, no mammography until I hit 40 and lots of other information. Then he tackled my question about my pain on the left side, which he strongly thinks is hormonal, how he wanted to do blood tests mid-cycle, how it could be pre-menpoupausal and such. Then he told me two things I could definitely do to alleviate it besides the pain meds--one was a hysterectomy which he doesn't recommend surgery since my uterus is healthy at the moment. The other was to get pregnant, which I was shocked that my doctor would even recommend, since I have surrendered and left everything in God's hands, that it totally up to God. He has Blessed my life so much, I would never say no if that was His Will for me. I am reminded of Mary, Our Blessed Mother. Her simple Yes led to something much greater than she realized at the moment she said it. A Messiah for our people and our World. That was her gift to us. We all have a gift that God has given us. What is your gift? Through our walk in Life God sends us Little Lessons to work and to see. Don't be blind to the messages He is sending you. Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe.

Giving Thanks

The Feast of Christ the King is today. I am thankful for a lot that my Lord and Savior has given me. I can't imagine homeschooling without Him in my life. I can't imagine going through my life without Him. I can't imagine going through what we have without Him. The thing I am most grateful for is Him. Despite the roadblocks we have had as a family lately, my faith in Him has never faltered. It may have had a side trip on a really bad day, but I always knew He was walking along with me. We rejoice in God in the good times and bad, no matter what circumstances come our way. And believe lately, it has been a rough road to climb. We have focused on Him and not the storm around us. When Jesus ask Peter to walk toward Him on the water, he told Him to focus on him and not the storm or the water. Keep my eyes on Jesus, because His Grace is enough for me. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Praising Him,
Noelle

Montessori Learning

We finally figured it out! Alleluia! I have two children who are right brained learners. With a lot of help from Elizabeth Foss, Diane Craft and other who home school using Montessori Methods they are finally learning without frustration and struggling. Homeschooling has not been easy the past year for us. With God's help he has showed us the way! The kids are so much better. Montessori has been a God-send! Learning styles are so important for children and after researching, we climbing mountains we never could before. Living Books are the way to go--it teaches real learning. Elizabeth's Foss's Real Learning books is an excellent read. This is teaching them that education is a lifelong journey it doesn't stop after you finish going to school!

Praising Him,

Noelle

Thanksgiving

Well Thanksgiving is upon us! This a time of Thanksgiving and appreciation for many things. Here is my list:
I am so thankful for many things.
I am thankful for the family I have, my two wonderful children, my awesome husband who puts with my high maintenance personality, and my parents and family.
I am thankful for my Sisters and Brothers in our Church, who have become dear to my heart.
I am thankful for all the homeschooling mothers who showed me the ropes when I was about to give up, especially Mary and Marissa.
I am thankful for being able to get closer to God these past 3 years.
I am thankful for being able to home school my two children who are where God needs them to be at this moment.
I am thankful for God's guidance through homeschooling and raising two beautiful kids.
I am thankful for God showing how suffering brings us closer to him.
I am thankful for our two kids walking in the Light of God and Blessed through the Holy Spirit.
I am thankful for God showing me that homeschooling is my vocation and where He needs me to be at this moment.
I am thankful for God showing me how to be humble.
Most of all I thankful for Him showing the awesome Love he has for all us as God's children.

Apple Picking and Pumpkin Picking

We went on our first trip for the year to Apple and Pumpkin picking with a group of us. Lisa and I watched Chloe, Becky and Luke picked apples. They had an awesome time. The school year is tugging along slowly. I am learning a lot about my kids learning styles. We have become Montessori homeschoolers. Their right-brained learning works well with Montessori learning. They are learning so much this way. We finally made a breakthrough through God's infinite Grace. I attended the yearly Woman's Retreat at my church and surrendered everything to God finally. It only took 38 years. I am a slow learner.

School Year

We have begun our school year. I started with a bunch of curricula and I am ending up doing montessori homeschooling, which has become more effective for my two kids. I have gotten the idea from Elizabeth Foss and we have been enjoying a whole bunch of thematic unit studies. I would call us eclectic homeschoolers. Chloe and Luke have decided to take a bite at drama this year. Our Catholic Homeschooling Group will be starting up again soon with lots of fun activities this year. We are going apple picking today, so I will try to upload a picture later for all of you to look at. Fall officially has started.
I decided to start freelancing writing again. Well this blog has given me so much experience again and lots of practice writing. Before the kids I did it alot for money. My goal is not exactly that this time , it is to help spread the homeschooling movement in a positive light. I'll keep you guys updated on my progress with that.

Fall is here!

As we are coming upon the Fall, I look back at a great summer I had with my children. We did alot of small trips, but we just had fun together. This is what I wanted this summer. I want them to remember summer time as having fun with Mom. August 18th we started school, we had a hard time starting back so I instituted half days. This week we are in the full swing of it all. My babies are growing up. On top of that the doctor discovered, I have a fibroid on my ovary which needs to be removed. I also have fibroids on my breasts. It is not cancer, which is a good thing. I have laid my life to do God's Will, wherever it brings me. At times it is hard, but following His path is the right path for us. What a joy it is to teach my children! We have so much fun learning together. I look back on the past 3 years, I taught both of my children to read and discover new things. Whenever someone asks me what I love about Homeschooling, I can seriously say it is God working within my children.

God's Journey for me

It is funny the last couple of months have been such a journey for us as a family, through friends that departed, medical issues, homeschooling, and our faith. No matter what my faith has always been deep for My Lord! I have learned many things these past months one was God has a path for each of us to fulfill. He had me become a special needs teacher all those years ago because he knew I would need it for my own children someday. Homeschooling in itself is a spiritual journey each day. Each day my ultimate goal is for them to walk in the light of Christ. I want them to learn their academics successfully, but at the end of the day when my son says,"We need to say money for the poor so they can live in a house not a tent." I know I am doing my job that God has put me into. Praise God for showing me that I have the courage to homeschool. Everyday may not be a perfect day, but it is a blessed day for God has given me another day to share in homeschooling with my family. Many people tell me I must be a saint because they could never homeschool. At first I didn't know what to say. As my faith has grown so has my ability to answer them. I now tell them I homeschool because it is what God had planned for my family. God brings us to something and he will bring us through it. He has deepened my faith through homeschooling. It is one journey I am glad I said yes to.

Blogging

I don't know how people blog everyday, between homeschooling, everday life, school, kids, and activities. I could never do it. It is funny I could write a book about the funny things my children say. Luke is my comedy relief at times. He said Mommy well God has a sense of humor. How children see things are amazing. I am still researching unschooling. We switched Math curriculums to Math U SEE. When it comes I will have an update on it. The kids love Apologia Science it is so awesome. They are having so much fun with it. I highly recommend Apologia Science. We also started Nature Journals. They are having fun going for walks with their journals and writing about what they see. I finally finished my class and I am taking ayear off from school. We are having so much fun this year schooling. It is just getting better each year.

Looking into unschooling

After reading Elizabeth's Foss' book, Real Learning, I decided to investigate unschooling since NACD does use alot of unschooling techniques for learning. I love the idea of Nature Journal's and notebooks for narrative writing. I also love the unit study technique. We will continue to finish out the year with some of the books we have been using. I am going to look into Living Books also. They look fantastic. The journey of homeschooling has taught me through God's guidance I will be forever learning.


Praising Him,
Noelle:)

SNOW!!!!

Yesterday was the first snowstorm of the season. How funny is that we are at the end of February and it is our first real snowstorm. The kids had a ball. We had half day of school and went out to enjoy the snow and then they wrote in their nature journals for science. They had so much fun--they were drenched when they came in. I am still fighting whatever I have so I could only watch from the door. I was not a happy camper. I love playing in the snow with them. Praise God I am feeling so much better.

Joyfully Praising Him,
Noelle:)

THE TOP TEN PREDICTIONS FOR 2008

THE TOP TEN PREDICTIONS FOR 2008
1. The Bible will still have all the answers.
2. Prayer will still work.
3. The Holy Spirit will still move.
4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.
5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.
6. There will still be singing of praise to God.
7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.
8. There will still be room at the Cross.
9. Jesus will still love you.
10. Jesus will still save the lost.
God whispers in your soul and speaks to your mind.
Sometimes when you don't have time to listen,
He has to throw a brick at you.
Your choice: Listen to the whisper, or wait for the brick.


This is all so true. I have been on the recieving end of the brick.

Joyfully Praising Him,
Noelle:)

My journey in Faith

Our journey is laid before us if we only look closely. My journey of homeschooling started there. I homeschooled our children in preschool thinking it was the best thing for them. And then I sent them to school. God always kept showing me opportunities where homeschooling was the better choice. I use the analogy he threw pebbles into the water to get my attention to it. One day he threw a boulder so I looked and saw what needed to be done. We finally took them out of school, I felt this sense of relief and being terrified at the same time. I had taught. I was a teacher for many years. All of sudden I realized this immense responsibility I had overtaken. As the year progressed, it was pure joy and love. It took awhile but I had my children back again. The school system somehow hardens them. My daughter loves being homeschooled. She will tell the best thing she loves are the trips and learning to cook. My son will tell you the best thing he loves is doing his work on the floor and playing games. I love just seeing the joy in there eyes and really enjoying learning again.