C.H.A.S.E. Day is FRIDAY!

We've officially entered a time of year that will always be significant for us. The last week in September...when seasons are changing, the State Fair is in town, and pumpkins begin to grace the front porches of friends and neighbors. It all brings back so much in my heart.

Sure, some of it is hard. We said goodbye to our child long before we wanted to, and that will always hurt. I remember conversations, smells, meals, emotions, scriptures, acts of service...details of every kind from two years ago. (It's really amazing how vivid those things are.)

But, as we enter this week of remembering, I also remember amazing moments of clarity and vision for what this life is all about.

So, for that reason, we are also entering a time of thanksgiving.

Because our little Chase taught us to love without hesitation...and saying goodbye to him has made us live differently.

This is the thing: We aren't guaranteed tomorrow. Now, aren't you glad you stopped by my blog for some upbeat encouragement tonight? Let me say it a more positive way:

We have TODAY to make a difference. We have TODAY to hug our kids and share with them the riches of living in God's love. We have TODAY to bless someone else in need, or express appreciation to someone who deserves our gratitude. We have TODAY to reconcile with someone we miss in our life.

And, that's what I've learned. TODAY matters. It was created for us to spend sharing His glory. And, to bless someone else with our gifts, talents, love, and resources.

So, because we have been given another opportunity this year to celebrate our son---to celebrate all he has brought to our lives---and to celebrate what we have learned from walking this road, we are

Choosing to

Honor thru

Acts of

Service and

Encouragement

To bless without holding back. To stop and realize that every day we've been given is God's day to use as He would like.

C.H.A.S.E. Day is FRIDAY!

And, just like last year, we'd love for you to join us. Bless someone else unexpectedly. And, in doing this, help us honor a precious little boy who reminded us that "this world is not our home". But, until we're home with him, we're gonna love like crazy. Because it's an honor to do so.

In just a few hours, our family will start our C.H.A.S.E. Day fun a little early, and just like last year, these girls are SO excited to get going! So, join in the fun!! And, thank you for your love, as always.

A Little of This, A Little of That

It might be one of those posts. It's late at night. I'm counting my blessings. And, I'm finding pictures I forgot to blog... :)

If it's any excuse, I seem to be neck-deep in schooling around here. So much so that I kind of feel like nothing much else is getting accomplished.

But, hey, we're still able to say--at the end of the day---that we read

and learn

and explore

and make patterns

and play with colored sand.

You know, all in a day's work, right?

OH! And, we bake cakes! Umm, no. WE don't bake cakes.

Grandma bakes amazing cakes and then lets us help her decorate them!

One of the suggestions in our geography curriculum is to make a world cake, where the kids practice their continent knowledge and you have fun baking together. When I read this, I knew I had two options: 1) Skip it entirely and ignore the idea or

2) ask Grandma to be in charge with all of her cake-decorating training and skill!

I mean, look at these supplies! She knows what she's doing!

Luckily, she said yes. And, last Friday, we spent the whole day preparing this cake in every way. Okay, not really. Grandma had done quite a bit of prep work ahead of time. Like the whole "baking the cakes" part. :)

So, we spent our time rolling fondant,

cutting out shapes and letters,

and decorating all three tiers!

It took a few hours,{and we may have had a few issues, like the globe layer imploding on us}

but it was so worth the effort!

The girls had so much fun making it, and we ALL enjoyed eating it too!!

I love that Cheri took a picture of me with the girls, as if I had anything to do with this project. I cut out one word and a few little hearts and flowers. That was it! But, boy was I proud of these girls' masterpiece!

Oh, man. It's good to look at these pictures on the iPhone tonight.

Because, I won't lie. This week started R-O-U-G-H on the homeschool front. I mean, days were ending at 7:00 pm. Tempers were flaring and patience was lacking.

And, I mean from the teacher.

But, after some time literally on my face in prayer this morning (and I don't say that from deep spirituality...it was more of a moment of absolute desperation in needing a new attitude),

I gave a few things back to God...again...and today went much better.

(By the way, you know how God will send you a message a few different ways to make sure you KNOW what He's trying to tell you? Well, this was my message, given three times in the last 2 days: Repentance does not mean saying you're sorry.

It means turning and walking in a new direction.

I won't get into what that means for me right now. But, let's just say I've said sorry for some things repeatedly lately, without changing the way I was walking. I needed the message.)

God is working on me big time. He is making sure I realize that there is JOY to be found in serving and loving and treasuring the children I have under my roof. There is even JOY in the waiting and the missing of the ones who aren't. There is MOVEMENT even when I doubt it.

And, there is VALUE in being pruned for His glory. Whew.

Meanwhile, even with all of that going on, I am being filled. Thank you Lord. And, I'm counting it all joy {even if the teeth are clinched at times} to be mom to these cuties.

Let's see...what else should I cover in this tangent blog?

Oh, yes! This littlest cutie started preschool last week with her sweet teacher, Mrs. Marla!

Abby Kate has been so excited about being in the big 4-year-old class and has talked NON-STOP every single day of school about all they are learning and doing and saying and playing. She has alot to say. And, I just wish I could record it all.

She wanted pictures with each of us on her first day of school and was quite proud to be the one everyone was doting over.

Boy, is she the baby or what?!

As I looked through pics of August, I came across a few more that never made it to the blog.

First, these precious pics of the girls with our Annie Girl on our last night with her.

Three days after we got home from Rwanda, we found out Annie had aggressive bone cancer and was in extreme pain. Her cancer had most likely spread to her brain, judging from her inability to walk. This all happened SO FAST while we were gone to Africa. And, it broke our hearts to have to say goodbye to our sweet dog, who had literally walked through every single part of our married life.

She has welcomed each of the girls home, never leaving their sides as newborns. She even took extra care of me when I couldn't bring my Chase home. She knew something was wrong and stayed in whatever room I was in for days and days. She protected me anytime Mark was gone. She enjoyed barking at the mailman and the trash man and the pizza man.

She made us laugh with her lazy habits and her long naps on her favorite stair. She loved and loved and loved our family. And, she is missed every single day.

The girls like to imagine that she is with Chase now,

loving on him and playing like she used to when she was young.

All I know is she is loved and missed.

Especially by this girl.

Carlie had a very special bond with Annie, and is certainly the animal lover of the family.

I was really worried about her saying goodbye...and it was hard.

But, the next day, we celebrated her SEVENTH birthday with a trip to Build A Bear,

where she made her own Annie Girl dog, who sleeps with her every night now.

So, all is getting better. Well, not yet. When she gets another dog, she says she'll finally feel better. Oh, goodness.

And, yes, I know I haven't even blogged about Carlie turning seven. She did. While I was in Rwanda the second time. On August 12th. And, Grandma made another cute cake and she was celebrated by cousins of all kinds. :)

We sent her flowers and balloons, trying to make up for the fact that we were gone on her birthday. :( We still have celebrating left to do for that girl.

And, she has been oh-so-patient to wait for it.

And, last but not least...there's another birthday quickly approaching! Sweet little Chase has been in heaven for two years next Friday, September 30th. I was just telling my sister tonight that it is still amazing to me that not a day goes by that he is not mentioned in our house. He is celebrated always. Even today, Kendyll was talking again about which sister he looked most like, and what he's probably doing in heaven today.

He's a part of us. Always. This time of year will always be about him for me. So much reminds me of him...of both the mourning and the comfort. And, we look forward to marking next Friday as another year closer to loving on him someday.

Sweet baby boy!! We can't wait to spend a whole day celebrating.

C.H.A.S.E. day is coming. We will honor you by blessing others again this year,

and we always will spend your day this way...

because you have blessed us and changed us forever.

(This is last year's picture, but it is soon to be updated...stay tuned.)

School's in Session!

Well, there's nothing like ignoring your responsibilities by blogging about them instead!

I should be in the school room getting ready for our day tomorrow. But, I told myself that I would just sit down for a few minutes and answer emails. But, that was two hours ago. And, my inbox looked too daunting (sorry, friends, who are waiting for my response!) so I looked at a couple of homeschooling blogs. Which then inspired me to actually do my "first day of school" blog before the first week has passed.

So, instead of organizing for tomorrow (or emailing), I am blogging!

But, the good thing is, we are having homeschool outdoors tomorrow for a nature day. So, there's time for packing up the books later. It's one of the things I love most about this whole thing. :)

We began school last week on September 1st. This is funny for a couple of reasons. First, if you had told me two weeks ago (while I was still in Rwanda) that my school plans needed to be done by September 1st, I would have laughed...or cried.

It seemed unattainable then, seeing that everything was still packed in the box it was shipped in.

I had kind of thought we would start later this year, considering the circumstances.

But, these three girls are creatures of habit. (Don't know where they get that from.) And, they wanted to start on September 1st, just like we did last year.

So, it was set. We were starting whether I was ready or not! And, on top of that, Abby Kate wanted to be a full-time member of homeschool this year. So, I was planning for three instead of two, and trying to accommodate some of our curriculum for a pre-K student, while making some new lessons for her age as well! (She is so cute, by the way, with her own notebooks and journal. She really is way too big, and is such a good little student.)

In order for me to get something ready by September, the girls got to go shopping with Grandma for back to school clothes (thank you, Cheri!) and then, my amazing husband took the kids out all over town for a couple of days in a row so I could plan like a mad woman...and with that time, I managed to get the first 9 weeks done.

They also got to go on a fun scavenger hunt for their supplies with Dad. They had a few seconds to look at all the pictures I texted them...some were for serious supplies.

And, some were more fun!

(You gotta have PE options, you know.) Then, they had to find everything on their list.

They loved it, of course. And, Abby Kate especially loved the bouncy balls.

While they shopped and played and went to movies, I planned, and cut, and laminated, and planned some more.

My school room looked like this during that weekend:

And, I think I ate one meal a day. It was a "working weekend" for sure. :)

But, oh so worth it. I managed to organize a few new spaces, update our old spaces, get 12 notebooks emptied and reloaded, and bring in the new books and curriculum, ready for a new year.

I was getting so excited as I read through the material and planned our lessons. It is going to be a GREAT year with My Father's World. We are doing Exploring Countries and Cultures as our main curriculum for history/geography/science/Bible and it has already impressed us. We will be exploring various countries around the world, learning all about their culture and people (geography & history), as well as the biomes and ecozones of their land (science). But, what I really love are the Bible lessons that we will go through. We are studying Matthew all year, but we are also praying for each nation as we learn about native beliefs of various cultures, as well as missionaries who live and work in different places. We are truly seeing what it means to "go into all the world" and share the love of Jesus. I LOVE it. (And, I love that it's already written for me too!)

Today, we learned about how many languages in the world still don't have a Bible in their native tongue and how it changes their lives to receive a Bible and learn that there is One True God who loves them and wants to give them hope and a future. We also talked about how hard people work to translate Bibles. This was seriously something my kids had never even thought about. The idea that people would not have Bibles was just something totally new to them. There were some precious discussions around this, and I was thankful yet again that I get to spend my days doing this. It's so worth it.

My other favorite thing this year is Kendyll's business math, where she gets to run her own pet store, complete with ordering inventory, keeping account of her sales, paying bills, and creating her own name and logo. She even wrote a jingle for her store on the piano! I am so thankful for the "Critter Corner" pet store. We have had a whole different start to math this year because of it.

There is alot more I could say about curriculum. Language arts... spelling... French... typing... second grade readers. Lots of fun things that make my nerdiness come out like crazy. We are all excited about our lessons this year. But, I'll stop there for now, since I'm now totally on a tangent.

The first day of school was a fun one, although always a tiny bit crazy when you're the teacher. We left it pretty light on the academics, and I was so surprised to hear they expected to do more work! Never can tell which way it will go?

The night before homeschool was a school celebration of Mexican food and frozen yogurt...

and I layed out the surprises for the morning!

A craft project to make our journals and clipboards pretty...

And their new grades on signs for school pictures.

Of course, Carlie was not so impressed with her surprises, because they did not involve candy in any way. (Unfortunately for my children, we recently had to crack down on a few rules around here, and now most everything they used to think was their "right" has now been redefined as "privileges" they earn. Candy being one of those. And, "crack down on rules" is another way to say that all of a sudden some behaviors have been out.of.control around here and Mom and Dad were about to go CrAZy. Major boot camp has come to town in the Jacobs home.)

But, anyway, back to the first day.

We had our "to-go" breakfast of donuts and Starbucks. Funny, really, how backwards that tradition seems. I guess we should be having a homecooked breakfast on the first day. But, a drive thru to Starbucks and a stop at our neighborhood donut shop was a dream breakfast for all of us, so we went with it. :)

After breakfast, we did our school pictures. And, oh my goodness, how did my girls get THIS BIG???

Takes my breath away to see this girl. FOURTH grade?? Somebody stop her.

And, Carlie is my big second grade girl this year!

And, she is quite the studious girl. The first day, she asked me why she couldn't have a spelling list that day, and why we were "just talking about math but not doing any??" She got her wish the next day. I sure hope she keeps that eager spirit all year!

And, my, oh my. Katers is such a cutie this year.

She is VERY very proud to be a homeschooler. Officially. She says it multiple times every day, usually while hugging my leg. "I can't believe it that I'm in homeschool now!" That's what she's saying in this picture, actually. "I'm in homeschoool, I'm in homeschoool!"

Again, I hope that sticks.

For now, she has been quite a good little student, and does not quit until she has all of her items erased from her dry-erase-to-do list each day.

So, we finished the first school day talking about our geography curriculum, and beginning our "Children of the World" poster. We will add a new child to this poster for each country we study, and eventually their hands will connect all the way around the globe.

I can't think of a better thing to be studying for this little family. We're looking forward to a year full of fun.

(And, hopefully lots of learning too.)

We are so thankful for some cooler Texas weather too, which makes school at home so much better. PE time can be outdoors (we're working on volleyball skills right now!), school time can be outdoors, and--most importantly--play time can be outdoors!

Since we did NOT have cool weather the first two days of school, I made up a chore for them to do outside. They washed the cars and got all soapy and wet. It was great! They laughed and screamed and sprayed each other. All with the doors to the house closed. So I could pretend they were quiet for an hour. :)

All the fun that comes in a school day around here.

Meanwhile, this Mommy has now spent quite a bit of work time just talking about working. Oh well. That might be what tomorrow morning will be for!

Happy Birthday, Vestine!

Today has been a very special day across the world in Rwanda, even though she'll be sleeping soon by now.

This little one,

who has found a place deep in our hearts,

turns ONE today!!!

Now, just to clarify before I begin to gush about this little girl, everything in us wishes she was the one we could bring home to our family, after months of loving her. But right now, this is just not an option. We are praying for changes, so that MANY children like Vestine can be given forever families. But, for now, we love her and pray for her from afar, knowing that God's perfect plan for her life will prevail, even if it doesn't look the way we would like. :)

But, for today...I sure wish we were there to love on her and sing to her and tell her how special she is.

I wish she could know how we pray for her every single day. I wish she knew how much I loved holding her while she slept.

But, someday we'll tell her...that we DID sing and we DID love and we DID think of how special she was all. day. long on September 5th...half a world away.

It's one of the hardest things about loving all the kids we love, in both Ghana and Rwanda.

God puts such special children on our hearts who we have to love from so far away. Part of our hearts live in other countries, and I'm still getting used to that. Or, will I ever really?

And, also.

This mommy can hardly stand it that so many orphans do not know the day they were born. They do not have a special day to celebrate their life. I think about my girls' birthdays and how MUCH they are celebrated from the moment they wake up. And, it makes me want to just plan birthday parties every single day the next time I'm with orphans.

Really. I'm going to. Who's with me?

This morning, as I woke up praying for sweet Vestine to KNOW she is loved and special today, I was reminded again that God doesn't need a special day of the year to show His love and sing His songs over His children. He celebrates them every day.

I don't think it's any coincidence at all, that after saying this prayer, the first song my Ipod Shuffle list played this morning was You Are Being Loved, by Steven Curtis Chapman.

"You are being loved. Right now at this very moment, you are being loved. There's a song being sung over you, by the One who breathed life into you!

"With every breath that you're taking, and every beat of your heart...whatever you do, wherever you are, there's a Song being sung over you."

God, thank you for singing over these sweet children even when many of us who love them can't.

We love you, precious girl! Happy First Birthday. We celebrate you today and all that you brought to our hearts and our family.