Leavin' On A Jet Plane

I'm about to board a plane and head to Cambodia. My mama heart is feeling a bit weepy tonight. Yesterday while I was packing and my sweet Ady realized that all of this talk about Cambodia meant mommy wouldn't be home. She completely melted down {all the while Avy was throwing stuff in my suitcase}. We had a little cuddle and cry time. Today they have both turned on the sappiness. Avy has been a little extra clingy and Ady has actually voiced her feelings, "Mama, I'm going to cry for you when you go to Cambodia." Yeah......they are making this super easy-not.

I figure I should get the sad feelings out of my system before I board the first plane. So, I decided to reminisce. 

I took my 1st mission trip when I was 14. It was actually a local one. A small portion of the youth group stayed in the dorms of a center-city outreach driven church. I learned about apart of town I never knew existed in the very city I was born and raised. It was life changing to see that level poverty in my own city {homes without running water, another home where a prostitute raised her children and serviced her clients without a bedroom door}. To this day I think about those kids. I pray for them. I wonder how they are doing and how old they are. They still have my heart.

When I was 15 I had the amazing privileged of attending a private Christian school that took an annual mission trip {with excused absences that didn't count against you!} to Acuna. Mexico.

 We went to neighborhoods like this. The homes where made of scrap wood, cinder blocks, and cardboard boxes. {Most of the houses were made of cardboard.}The water they drank was kept in a huge uncovered barrel outside the home. It was not the kind of water any of us would even want to water the yard with.

We got to play with these awesome kids. We handed out suckers and stickers. We prayed over them and invited them to church. I think about these kids all the time too. In this area alcoholism is a huge problem and there are a lot of single mamas.

I got to meet this cutie-pie cowboy at a church service way out in the country where the air actually smelt like....weed {as in marijuana}. Yep, you could smell it just walking down the street. After that trip I wanted to move to Mexico forever. I wanted to be a missionary.

I went again on the same trip when I was a 16. This time we worked mainly in the mission and not in the neighborhoods. We handed out food and took care of the kids that showed up throughout the day.

I met these sweet sisters. 

I also got strep-throat before even arriving {woke up in San Angelo with it}. Then while in Mexico I contracted an eye infection that lasted three months and was painful to say the least. My eye doctor had never seen anything like it and I had to have a culture done every week. Yes, every week they scraped my eye ball. After that trip I never wanted to go back. In my heart I did, but I just knew if I did I would get sick. Weird way of thinking....maybe...

Except....

Now I'm off to Cambodia and guess what? Every kid in my house is coughing, really bad coughing. The kind of coughing that gets me out of bed. So, I figure this short-term missionary stuff {even if it's been 11 years} is something the Lord really wants me to do. He provided ALL the funds for this trip in a matter of days. He paved a clear path for me and with the amazing support from my hubby I'm GOING! Because the devil can't win.

Today I prayed for a scripture. "Lord, almost all my kids are still suffering from this nasty cough. I'm going to miss my family like crazy. I'm coughing just a bit too. Can you give me a verse to cling to?" I read 1 Cor. 13. It is 13 verses long {you should read it}. It is the verses to the song my Brenly Bear danced to at her recital. The very last verse is my clinging verse. {We also got married on the 13th, so it's a number I like. Full of love not unluckiness.}

"But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love." 1 Cor. 13:13

Thank you Jesus for the sweet words! I can trust YOU! I can share your hope. My purpose for going on this trip is to LOVE your children.

So, I'll leave you with this....

This is from the 1st trip to Mexico. I really like goats.

Blessings,

~Hailey

Oh Nevermind...

You know that moment when you realize maybe you jumped the gun? Well, I faced this moment just days after posting my last blog. I had to face the cold hard fact that my heart still wanted to homeschool the kids. So, Mackey and I had a long hard talk {I mean loooonnnggg & hard.} I faced my fears and confronted my weaknesses. I had a hard year with school in 2012 and I was still very drained from it. We had just moved into a new home with a project around every corner and boxes to the ceiling. It is summer and I just wanted to have FUN!! I made the decision out of weariness and feelings of being overwhelmed. I am retracting my last statement and 

WE WILL BE HOMESCHOOLING 

this next school year.

I am changing things a little bit.For the first time I will be using a simpler, more planned out program and things like that. We are rejoining our local support group {I NEED PEOPLE}. We are changing our schedule to a 5 day school week and will be taking real breaks!

I don't know if giving my family the summer off was just what I needed to find my homeschoolin' mojo but it worked. I have a new perspective and eagerness to homeschool. I may seem like a wishy-washy person and that is ok, because it is a good thing to examine your heart and your motives and correct yourself when you get off course. I was getting off course, now I am back on. 

Here are our reasons for homeschooling. Why Homeschool? Blessings,
~Hailey   

Public School Here We Come

Closing the door to our one room school house...

When we made the hardcore decision to homeschool and never look back I really thought I would be graduating the kids from homeschool. I pictured them walking across the stage with their homeschoolin' buddies and patting myself on the back as I wipe a tear {or Mackey pats me on the back as I sob uncontrollably}. 

We homeschooled for only three short...long...short years. And now my hubs and I both know in our hearts that the homeschooling season is over. I never expected this and it has not been an easy decision. I thought it would help me through the transition of a house full of kids to absolutely none {for several hours a day anyway} if I could put into words just a few things I am taking away from our experience. 

1. The education of my children is my responsibility. Mine and Mackey's. It is up to us to see them through school. Encourage them to study. Study with them. Check in with their teachers. Tutor them through their weaknesses. Although they will be enrolled in public school, their teachers are my partners and they are not solely responsible for their growing minds. The Lord gave that responsibility to Mackey and me.

2. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing your kids achieve greatness. We are hands-on parents and wont miss a thing! Because we homeschooled I understand the challenges of teaching kids to read and understand math. Their success is worth celebrating and nothing is too small to celebrate! When my kids "get" something that has been challenging I will know to congratulate them and their teacher.  

3. Although my kids are young they can still impact their peers. Because my kids are young they can be easily impacted by their peers. See, this one is a double-edged sword and I am not naive to it. I understand that my kids are too young to be "sent into the mission field" and "to be light in a dark place." If public school is a dark place and a mission field then I am joining my kids in their journey. This is hardly throwing them into the world or feeding them to the wolves. My husband and I will be very present in their lives. I will be occasionally joining them for lunch, volunteering to read, participating in field trips, and helping with class parties. There is plenty to do that encourages them in their new journey and lets them know we are in this school thing and this life thing TOGETHER.   

4. This last thing I am glad we learned outside the public school realm. Your kids/my kids/all kids do not need to participate in every activity to be happy, productive, good citizens. Keeping your kids busy with every little activity or sport doesn't keep them out of trouble! If extracurricular activities keep your family apart and out of church they aren't worth it. PERIOD! Having strong family bonds and helping your family grow spiritually is far more important than ANYTHING else. More important than trophies, gold medals, snowcones after the game, popularity, and even more important than the chance of scholarships. What most homeschool families have figured out or are aiming for anyway, is that nothing comes before God and family. Bible study, church, volunteering at church and in the community, local and international missions seems to be at the heart of many homeschool families. Our heart is there too. Public school wont change that. I believe it is giving us another way to reach out and touch the very heart of God, children.

So, this is where we stand. Obedience even when we don't want to, because I would rather be homeschooling the kids. I might cry or I might do a happy dance on August 26th, I'm not sure yet. I might do both! 

For my homeschoolin' friends, I love you! What ya'll do is amazing. I am very pro-homeschool and I am for you succeeding in the journey God has for you! I'm a little jealous it's not my journey anymore. 

Blessings,
~Hailey

May & June at Our House

When I started this blog I really hoped to actually write and post things...but...I haven't really. One thing that is easy enough to quickly post about are all the sudden changes that have taken place.

In May, Makena turned 7!

Quick...blow out the candles! We have to keep packing BECAUSE....

We moved {the yard looks better, it's one of our projects}. This house is a blessing from the Lord! We love the neighborhood. We have the option to buy it. It's in the same town as our church. It puts us in an amazing school district {um...why does that matter, we homeschool. More on that later.}. It is a "love gift" or a gift that needs a lot of love. It's a fixer-upper! We have painted almost the whole house, all but one small room.

Here is a little, although not well photographed, picture of my living room (before/after).

In the middle of moving our girls had their very first recital. Avy surprised us all and actually danced {because at the two dress rehearsals she panicked on stage and cried}. I am still in awe of how wonderfully they all performed!

Then, the twins turned 4!!

{Yeah, they had donuts to celebrate...we were after all in the middle of unpacking, organizing, decorating, painting, and this was only 3 days post recital. I'm tired.} 

To finish off June our wonderful in-laws came to town.

And there was lots of swimming!!

The end! 

~Now on to JULY~