Jeremy is fishing the FLW tour again this year. In February, a dream 12 years in the making became a reality when he made the final cut of a major tour event and had the opportunity to fish with legendary professional anglers, such as Roland Martin. You know… the guys we watch on TV on the weekends.

It was SO cool!

He ended up taking home a 3rd place trophy and lots of bragging rights. And I was incredibly happy that the kids and I were able to travel with him and be there for such an awesome achievement.

This week we are in Guntersville, Alabama. We aren’t able to go with him to all of his tournaments, due to locations and cost, but whenever it’s possible, we pack up food, school books, laptops, games, and sometimes pets in order to be a family…even in midst of the hectic spring fishing schedule!

This is why homeschool groups are so great. Some parents get into science and labs and dissecting, and the smell of formaldehyde wafting through their living room doesn’t bother them in the least.

I am not that parent.

I am the parent who drops off for science projects and runs an errand. I am the parent who pays for art class and sits quietly in the back reading a book. I am the parent who will foster and encourage (most of) my children’s interests, but if it’s messy or smelly, it ain’t happenin’ at my house.

But then sometimes, an opportunity presents itself.

Thanks to a prowling cat, an unsuspecting baby rabbit, and an apparently underfed puppy dog, we were able to get a glimpse of the organs we studied in anatomy earlier this year.

I’ll spare you a picture.

Amazingly though, it was very clean. Lady did a great job with her canines of getting rid of the fur, extracting the stomach and large intestine, and she even removed only one side of the bunny’s face, leaving the eye completely in tact but also completely exposed for viewing purposes.

Kudos, Lady!

As horrified as I was when I realized what she was gnawing on in our front yard, it turned into a terrific science lesson as we grabbed a stick and poked around the furry carcass. We saw the heart inside the ribcage, the small intestine, and the spine. We talked about whether it was a boy or girl (which is still unknown to me, but they have their opinions!). We could see the teeth and a lot of perfectly shaped muscles that looked like they came right out of the pages of a text book.

Very cool. And the best part? It was not in my house (unlike last week when the same dog brought a half eaten cardinal into my kitchen and laid it on the floor… OF MY KITCHEN… but that’s a story for another time… or not!). Emery disposed of the remains for me and now we are happily working in the schoolroom which is free from any colorless, toxic, or potentially carcinogenic gasses.

I’d say that this school day was a successful one.

In the Bible, there is a period of time where God allows 400 years of silence between Himself and his people. With that in mind, maybe you can cut me some slack on my 4 months of silence.

No? Well, it was worth a try!

I can’t say that this year has been incredibly busy and that’s the reason for my lack of posts. But in January I decided to really focus on what’s important. And well, as fun as blogging is to me, in the grand scheme of things, it’s not that important. Getting to bed at a decent hour so I can have time with God before beginning my day? Important. Preparing healthy, home cooked meals for my family? Important. Finding time to exercise? Important (although, to be honest, this has fallen by the wayside already).

The Lord laid a verse upon my heart around New Year’s and I thought it would be a wonderful goal if I were to live it out in 2012. Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

A friend of mine who teaches English grammar was explaining this verse to me one day (not knowing it was my life verse for this year… Cool how God worked that out). She said that the difference in the “do not conform” and the “be transformed” part of this verse is huge. It all has to do with the word “BE”. The “be” shows active participation. If you conform to the pattern of this world, you basically just sit back and go with the flow. You might attend church and read the Bible. You may even pray. But it’s lackadaisical at best. You live in the world and do your best to get along with everyone. And unbeknownst to you, over time, you are conformed to the world.

On the flip side, “be”-ing transformed by the renewing of your mind shows action on your part. It’s something you must do in order to know God’s good, pleasing and perfect will. It’s not easy. It takes effort. And lots of times, it goes against what you feel like you want to do. But that’s where obedience and perseverance come into play.

So in January, as I reflected on last year, I had to ask myself, “when was the last time I felt uncomfortable in the world?” I could think of a few times, but in reality, these are the things that have bothered by spirit for quite some time. The absence of transformation in my life pointed directly to my lack of growth. So the past 4 months have been all about “be”-ing:

~being in the Word every morning
~being mindful to pray not only for myself, but others who are in need in my community and around the world
~being a support to my kids and husband, not my virtual facebook friends
~being a homemaker, whether its nutritious meals, an organized house, or creative touches that make a house a home
~being a follower of Christ

So as I focus on living out Romans 12:2, my prayer is that my family will flourish, my relationship with the Lord with deepen and maybe, JUST maybe, my mind will declutter enough so that the writing of these posts will happen quickly and easily, and therefore, no more lengthy silences!

Snuggly jammies, warm fire, Christmas lights, Disney movie, pizza and hot wings. Is there a better way to ring in the new year? Welcome 2012! We’re glad you’re here!!!

Jeremy asked me what I wanted for my birthday this year and I said, “Nothing”. He came back with, “No, c’mon, I want to get you something.”

“I want nothing.”

“There has to be something you want.”

“Yes, I’m telling you what I want. I want nothing. Actually a couple of days of nothing would be even better.”

So that’s what I got for my birthday. Two days of nothing at a posh hotel in downtown Atlanta. It was exactly what this 40 year old body needed! Thank you, Honey!!!

In the midst of a busy, REALLY BUSY weekend of Keepers group, grand opening, Christmas party, and 2 Sunday School small group parties… we celebrated Savannah’s 9th birthday. I’m guessing that since it was squeezed in there at the end and I was pretty much exhausted, that’s why I have no pictures to speak of. Except of the cake. And a couple that Emery took with my camera.

Regardless of the amount of pictures taken though, Savannah had a very special day. After getting home from the Anglers Warehouse Christmas party, we stayed up late making chocolate donuts into reindeers for her breakfast. Then we blew up 9 pink balloons and used them to decorate her doorway, completely covering it with streamers! (The look on her face in the morning was priceless!)

Then we went to church where she won a $5 Walmart gift card from her Sunday School teacher and followed that with a Christmas party at her small group leaders house. After I picked her up, I also picked up 3 of her friends on our way home. She opened her gifts from them right away so they could all play with the new Barbies and accessories. Then we ordered pizza and watched a movie before having cake and heading home.

Upon returning home, her mother crashed into the fetal position under her covers and surfaced shortly before beginning the Christmas Eve festivities!!!

The grand opening of our new retail store, Anglers Warehouse, was this weekend. The doors were officially opened for business in August but we didn’t have it fully stocked, loaded and ready to go until now.

After the crash of the housing market 3 years ago, it’s so nice to see Jeremy find his passion again. He is a smart businessman and works hard to accomplish his goals, but what he really loves is people. He is at his most happiest when he is helping someone to achieve their own dreams. Whether it’s a guy making baits in his garage on weekends finally turning a small profit, or a life long fisherman who steps up to tournament level. Jeremy is there for advice and encouragement.

The same night as our grand opening we also had a Christmas party for our pro-staffers. We were so thrilled that 75 people came!!! Some from as far as Texas and Arkansas! We feel so thankful for them because they are the guys wearing our Tshirts, hats and jerseys on the weekends at their local tournaments. Our name is getting out there! Recently we’ve had orders to fill and send to Washington, Utah and Maryland! Isn’t that amazing???

I never imagined entering the world of retail sales, but we’re here. And we’re doing pretty well. I can’t wait to see what this year holds for us! And if you’re so inclined, please visit us on the web: anglerswarehouse(dot)com for all your fishing needs!

Last year Savannah and I were invited to be a part of a group called Keepers of the Home. We met monthly with other moms and daughters learning life skills, and focusing on the things that God designed us, as women, to take care of. Since I had never heard of a “Keepers Group” at the time of our invitation, I ordered the handbook. It didn’t take long after flipping through its pages to know this was something special.

Going forward into this school year I knew I wanted to continue learning in the Keepers handbook. But I hesitated returning to the previous group. Not because they aren’t the most gracious, fun-loving, God fearing women I’ve met through homeschooling. Because they most certainly are. They are wonderful! But that group was a very large group. Twenty or more girls if everyone showed up. And I knew some personal friends who I thought would also like to be a part of Keepers. I didn’t feel that it was my place to invite them into the other group, so I decided to branch out and start my own group.

The picture at the top is our new group (minus one lovely) taken at our Christmas Tea. I hesitated planning a December meeting but when one of the moms offered to give the girls a proper “tea”, I thought it was a great idea. They got all dressed up for the occasion and each girl brought a gift or two for a family we adopted from the local ministry village. After eating and hearing the story “My Child My Princess”, the girls wrapped their gifts and decorated Christmas cookies.

I am so pleased with how this group has turned out. An absolute answer to prayer. I love the diversity of their ages and family backgrounds as much as the girls themselves. And I can’t say enough good things about the new friendships I have made with their mothers.

Some other fun things we’ve done this year include how to grind your own wheat and make blueberry muffins, we’ve made our own travel pillows, we learned some healthy ways to take care of our bodies since they are the temple of the holy spirit and we also made our own Christmas cards. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the year brings!!!

What can I say about writing? I personally have a love/hate relationship with it. When I have time to think clearly, be humorous, add style and entertain people… I love to write! But these days, I don’t have time for all that. I update this blog quickly, just so I don’t forget things. It’s far from entertaining anymore. It reminds me of a checklist. And that, I hate!

But I do like to teach writing skills. With a first and third grader, we are still doing a lot of basics. Savannah has very neat handwriting and so for her, I assign a lot of journaling and some copywork. She told me once when she was quite small that she wanted to be an author some day. She’s never mentioned it again, but gosh, does she love to write stuff! She fills up notebook after notebook with her thoughts and drawings and ideas and to do lists (I have NO IDEA where she gets THAT from!). On a normal school day, I have to continually remind her that she’s done enough writing for that day and she needs to move on to her other work or it will never get done!

Emery hasn’t been as eager to write as his sister. I’m not sure if it’s because he’s getting older or if she is rubbing off on him, but he isn’t as frustrated by it as he used to be. Neatness and taking pride in his handwriting is something I’m trying to develop in him. “It’s not just all about getting the assignment finished, son.” At the beginning of this year I hesitated to teach him cursive even though he was asking. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to do it, but I could barely read his printing. I thought cursive would be even worse! Now I’m glad that I decided to go ahead and do it. Turns out, if it’s something he sincerely wants to learn, he will do what it takes to do it right.

I don’t know why this picture is so blurry. Knowing him, he probably wasn’t sitting still! The page was taken from his writing book called Writing with Ease (Savannah also uses the 3rd grade edition). These books have been great in reinforcing copy work, comprehension skills, and story narration. We do a lot of work finding the main points of stories and then condensing those stories in our own words. This is difficult because for Savannah, she wants to retell the story in complete detail including the color of flower petals that the main character passed on her way to the farmhouse. And Emery, knowing that whatever he narrates back to me about the story, I will write down and he will have to copy, gives me only 4 and 5 word recaps! (sigh)

But overall, I can already see a huge improvement in both their handwriting and their writing skills in general since the beginning of this school year. I am really looking forward to next year when Savannah will be old enough to participate in the Essentials Writing class that is offered within our homeschool group. I hear nothing but praise about it and I think with the program we’ve been using, she will have confidence in herself and will do very well in the class.

Sadly, as I mentioned in an earlier post, Jeremy’s aunt Patsy died soon after Thanksgiving. The funeral was this weekend. Due to Savannah and I participating in Journey to Bethlehem, only Jeremy and Emery went to Mississippi to be with the family. And since it was just us girls, we headed over to my mom’s for the annual Cookie Bake.

It seems like each year there is something memorable that happens. There was the year my sister got us all matching aprons that said “Santa likes my cookies best!” And the year that Buzz Lightyear kept showing up next to the finished cookie trays in all the photos. This year was no different. Savannah, Jessica and I were decorating sugar cookies and I kept thinking something just didn’t look right. Then it dawned on me! Usually our sugar cookies are frosted in the traditional red, white and green Christmas colors. But this year there was neon blue, bright pink and fluorescent yellow. You see, Nanny became a die hard coupon-er this year and the colors on the cookies reflect the icing that she found on sale all year! Yeah, I’m pretty sure we won’t be letting her live that down anytime soon!!!