Tiny Talk Tuesday

After a dinner that everyone enjoyed (with 3 kids that doesn't happen too often:)Eli said, "Mommy you are a good cooker!" Too cute! It made my day!

Go over to Not Before 7:00 for other tiny talk overheard this week!

Can Google organize my life?

The hardest part of homeschooling last year was planning... lesson plans, scheduling, getting everything done.   My strength has always been organizing things but it falls apart when it comes to maintenance.   I tried several different systems that I either came up with myself or "stole" from other homeschool moms.  Nothing stuck, nothing made life easier for me.  When I started using workboxes it made me be more organized but by the end of the school year which also correlated with the end of my pregnancy I couldn't keep up with filling the boxes each night and that fell apart as well.  So,  much thought has gone into what I can do differently this year.  Now with four little ones to manage, it is important for me to get this under control.

There are some lessons I learned as I look back over the year which I hope will help me as I gear up for this school year:

1.  First and foremost, I MUST commit each day to God and allow Him to direct my path.  There is a direct correlation between whether or not I spend time with my heavenly Father each morning and how much yelling I do during the day.  When I get up early, before the kids and spend time in His word, God gives me the strength and patience to deal with what comes my way.  I have come to realize that  the kids are pretty consistent, but it is my attitude towards them that can make or break the day.
These last few months I have made the excuse of lack of sleep to stay in bed a little longer... and I do know that God understands when I have been up all night with the baby... but how many times do I use that as an excuse and miss out on a blessing God may have had for me. 

2.  KISS- Keep it simple Sistah!- as much as I love to create elaborate systems of how something is going to work, it only works if I can then use it consistently. At this stage of my life the less I have to do to keep a system going, the better.  It also works for the kids if the routine is uncomplicated and easy for them to learn and follow.

3. The schedule is there as a guide and is not written in stone.   Last year I had a pretty strict schedule when we started but because I hadn't planned for it to be flexible, I felt like a failure each day that we didn't stick to it exactly.  As a result that schedule went out the window about 2 weeks after we started and for us the pendulum swung completely to the other side.  This also left me feeling like a failure because I had to think on my feet all day.  Things came together a bit with the introduction of workboxes in January.  They forced me to be more organized but still without the right balance of schedule and flexibility, I was constantly fighting against feeling inadequate as a homeschooling mom.  I also didn't keep it simple with the workboxes and I began to find the planning and filling of them monotonous.  Through it all I learned that for us, having a schedule  is better than the absence of one, but the BEST one is a flexible one.

4. My children, especially the oldest,  love routine.  They thrive when they know what is coming.  I, on the other hand like things to change up and I had been trying to manage their day based on my preference.  It occurred to me late in the year that it is okay with them if we do math the same time every day and even though I may get bored of that, they won't.  I had tried to make each day different but I now see the value in having a big part of the day the same.


So what does this look like for this year and what does Google have to do with it?   I am using Google Calendars!  Did you know that you can create many different calendars that can be viewed all together?  They are colour coded and you can view or hide which ever calendars you want.

I had been using a Google calendar for our appointments and day to day events but at some point this summer it occurred to me that I could use one calendar for each child and plug my lesson plans in there for each.  I would then have a snapshot each day of what each child should accomplish which I could view by day, week or month.  It would also be a record of what we did each day if I needed to go back and refer to anything. Using the things I learned that I listed above, I created a daily routine for each child and although I assigned a time to each(since that is the only way to add it to the calendar,) only the order needs to be followed.  For example, Micaiah's calendar has math from 10:50 to 11:30 and then reading from 11:30 to 11:50.  He will do those things in that order, but we will not be a stickler for time.  If there is something he doesn't get to for that day because he took more time than we alloted somewhere else, that's okay, we will catch up another day.  This way everyone knows what is coming.  I will probably still use schedule strips for Eli and Eden so they can have a visual, but Micaiah will have access to his Google calendar and will be able to monitor where he should be.

Because I can view all the calendars at the same time I will easily see when there are conflicts or appoinments that will get in the way of school time. 

I have even added a calendar for meals that I have been using for my meal planning.  I print that calendar out each week and stick it on the fridge so that anyone who wants to know what's for breakfast, lunch or dinner on any given day can see it.  Again,  I can view it with all the other calendars so I can see which days I don't have time to cook a big meal or if we will be out of the house at lunch time.

Here's a snapshot of what a day looks like.  It may look like a lot on one calendar but I can hide as many or as few as I want at any time.  I like being able to see everything at the same time...

click on it to make larger

I am really praying this works for me.  It seems simple enough to use and maintain and with God's guidance each day I feel confident that it can work!

What's the magic word?... Accountability!

I have always been good at starting but often not so good at finishing... especially if it is taking too long to finish, or if something else catches my attention. I am easily sidetracked (oh, THAT's where my kids get it from:)

I got excited when I saw this mission of the month idea over at Mama Jenn's blog. It's simple, blog about what I want to accomplish with a deadline for completion and suddenly the fact that it is out there in cyberspace for anyone to see (and the fact that I am performance driven :) should motivate me to complete the task!!







So I am joining in. For September I have 2 projects that are presently half done. A set of bean bags that I am making for Eden and I am re-purposing some building blocks for a sight word activity for Eli. I can't wait to share them both with you but I have to finish them first... by September 30th.

If you see me feel free to nag me  err... ask me how it is going!  As soon as I am done I'll be back here to let you know!

Want to join in?  Head on over to Mama Jenn's!

Works For me Wednesday: Birthday countdown

Eli's birthday is coming up soon. It is hard to believe but he is going to be 5! As with any child, he is super excited about his birthday and for months he has been asking the question....

" How many days until my birthday?"

As we have gotten closer, I was going to help him make a paper chain to count down the days like we did here but instead I had another idea. I had just made a new batch of homemade play dough (strawberry scented...yummy!) so I shaped a blob of it into a little cake and stuck 10 candles in (his birthday was 10 days away at that point). Each morning he gets to remove a candle and count how many are left. He was so excited, the first morning he was up at about 6:30 asking if he could take a candle from his cake! It is a great way for him to count down the days until he is five.

That's what works for me! For more Works for me Wednesday, head over to We Are That Family.

The Birth of Marcus: Our Faith Journey- Part Four

Read Part 1 The Dream
Read Part 2 The Impossible Dream?
Read Part 3 Believing the Dream

The Dream Fulfilled

...Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time (Habakkuk 2: 2-3a)

Once I knew that I had the support of my OB we started praying for some specific things for a successful vaginal birth. Through this process I learned to pray specifically... and it was exciting to watch God answer each request one by one. Even when the answer was no, watching God answer in a way beyond my imagination increased my faith.

On June 24th around 4pm I started having contractions. I started to get excited, figuring that I would be holding my little bundle later that night but the contractions never became regular and by 11pm they fizzled out.

I woke up at 6am Friday morning with contractions again.

We got the kids organized and JDF took them to his parents house... surely the baby was on the way and we would be introducing them to their new brother by the end of the day... thankfully I didn't promise them that because although the contractions persisted they never became regular. I'd have them 5 or 6 minutes apart for 30 - 45 mins and then nothing for an hour or so.

JDF went in to work for a couple hours but came home before lunch. We went for a walk on the beach, took a drive and then stopped and picked up lunch before heading home. With the kids out of the house I felt like we were on vacation.. it was a much needed break. I felt rested, and ready to have this baby. By 3 pm I knew that my hopes to have my OB present for the birth were not going to be realized. The on call OB would be on at 5pm. I called the office just to let my OB know that I was in pre labour (just in case she decided she did want to be there) The on call OB was the OB who I saw when my OB was on maternity leave... my best friend's sister!!

By Friday evening the contractions fizzled off again and I woke up on Saturday morning still there. I was starting to get discouraged and disappointed. I started having doubts that I would have the birth that I wanted.

The pain intensified for a brief period on Saturday morning but by lunch time they were only mild and very sporadic contractions. JDF went to hang out with the kids who were still at his parents house (thank God for grandparents!) so I tried to rest as best I could. I couldn't believe I was still at home but I knew God was in control and I continued to pray and thank him that his timing was perfect.

I kept in touch with the doula all day.. she stopped by in the morning for a while (even folded a basket of laundry while she was there!!) and was a real encouragement throughout the day with her phone calls.

By early evening I we decided to go and see the kids and get them ready for bed. On the way home around 8:30, the pain intensified and the contractions seemed like the were getting more regular... 6 or 7 minutes. At 10:15 I told JDF that I was going to start timing the contractions and I would let him know in a half hour what was going on... 15 minutes later I was telling him it was time to leave the house!

We were on the maternity ward with the doula by 11pm and met the midwives that would be assisting us. When they checked my cervix I was at 4cm so they moved me to the birthing room. The next few hours went by... the contractions continued and intensified... I prayed through each contraction. I remember them checking me again and I was at 7 cm... this was great, we were making progress. I lost track of time... minutes seemed like hours... we had praise music playing, I made myself focus on the words through each contraction... during each one I thought I was going to need something for the pain but God seemed to be giving me this inner strength to get me through. As long as I focused on Him, I was able to manage.

The next time the midwife came to check me I was still at 7 cms and now my cervix had gotten "spongy". I remember asking what that meant because that didn't sound good. The midwife told me she was going to call the OB in and she would decide if I would need to go up for a C-section... at that point I lost it. I couldn't accept that we had come this far to end in a c-section. My dear husband calmed me down and prayed... I felt a new wave of determination...I got up off the bed to move around and let gravity help out the situation. When the mid wife came back to check I had progressed to 8 cm and by the time the OB arrived I was almost fully dilated!

I had been worried about stage 2... the pushing stage, as I had never reached this point before. The OB, doula, midwife and JDF were great as the encouraged me through each contraction. I was exhausted but motivated by the fact that I was going to see my baby really soon. And soon it was... after 29 minutes of pushing Marcus Samuel entered the world.
I remember saying over and over.. "I did it! I did it!" I couldn't believe the journey was finally over! I praised God for his faithfulness!!

Here are some of the specific prayer items we prayed for and how God answered them:

· That I would start labour with a soft, stretchy cervix that may also be slightly dilated - I was about 2 cm at my final OB appointment. It was an encouragement to be told that.. I knew that my body was doing what it was designed to do! God is faithful!

· That we have a very supportive midwife. I couldn't have asked for a better midwife. She was so encouraging and supportive. My one concern was that her shift would end midway through my labour and delivery and I would get someone new that wasn't as helpful ( as was the case when I had Micaiah). I asked her when I went in at 11 if her shift would be ending soon.. she said "No I'll be here until 8 tomorrow morning.. you will have this baby by then!" I remember seeing the clock at 6am and thinking that she was going to leave before the baby was here... Marcus was born at 8:01am... she was there with me through the whole thing! God is faithful!

· That my water would not release (break) prior to contractions starting. It did not. God is faithful!

· That I have a short second stage (the pushing stage). I was told this pushing stage for the first time could be 2 to 3 hours long. I knew when I started pushing that I didn't have 2 hours left in me. After 29 minutes of pushing Marcus "flew" out! God is faithful!

.That the doula would be available as she had 3 other births scheduled and 2 were over due. (She also didn't want to miss seeing her son off to his highschool prom on Saturday evening- and I didn't want her to miss that either :) The other babies were all born by Thursday giving her a couple days break. AND by the time we had to go to the hospital she had been able to go one daughter's ballet recital, another one's music recital and then able to see her son dressed in a tux ready for the prom... HIS timing is perfect! God is faithful!

. That I would go into labour on a weekday so I would have my OB there... as it turned out, to have my friend as OB was amazing! She was so encouraging and knowing that she believed that this was the hand of God made it that much more special... so in this case God's answer was no because he had something better! God is faithful!

If you are still reading... thank you for sharing this journey with me! I wrote this to encourage others to believe God when he tells you something.. even when it seems impossible. My faith has grown and even though I still sometimes struggle with periods of doubt and discouragement in other areas of my life, I have this experience to draw on and remind me how much God is in control and that I can totally trust him!



Please note that the purpose of me sharing my story is to encourage others to trust God in seemingly impossible situations. Having a VBA3C did involve some risk and I am in no way encouraging anyone to go against the advice of medical personnel. This was a personal decision and one that I wanted to make with the support of my OB... God made that possible. If you are desiring a VBAC after 2 or more c-sections, my advice would be to become fully informed of the risks, educate yourself, openly communicate with your OB or midwife and seek the face of God, being open to the direction he leads you. Feel free to email me at rusheika at gmail dot com if you want to talk to me further about my preparation for a VBA3C .