Just another school day...

It's never "just" another school day at our house. i am so thankful for the laughter, curiousity, creativity and confusion that my children throw into our daily schooling. Life would be so boring without being a part of watching them as they grow and learn each day. i am so thankful for the opportunity to homeschool them. But as I read again in Isaiah today, I am even more thankful that my children "are taught by the Lord." This so makes the daunting task of teaching them not seem so big. It is so good to know that even when I am about to pull my hair out because someone just can't "get" their times tables down, or someone just can't seem to write ANY lowercase letters, or has forgotten everything they seemed to know yesterday..that God knows each of these children, all thier strengths and weaknesses-better than I ever could. I am so thankful that he is at work in my children's lives, instructing them, helping them along the way, working out all the little "kinks" that sometimes seem like such a big deal to me. But really, who cares if he writes in all caps or if she doesn't have all the times tables down just yet. God has called our family to this journey, and he will equip us every step of the way.

That being said, We had one of "those' days the other day...not a bad day, just a day where I wondered, are they getting any of this/

We usually start our schoolday with Bible, but on this particular day, the kids asked if we could do "English From the Roots up" first-our greek and latin root word study. I was excited that the kids were all asking to do it, so I decided to let them play a game. I gathered up all their root word cards and told them to line up side by side in the kitchen. With each correct answer they would get to take a step forward, and the first one to the couch would be the winner.
I gave them the rules: I would call out a root word and they had to raise their hand to answer and I would call on the first one with their hand raised. The girls would have to spell the root, tell me what it meant and the.n put it in a word and tell me what that word meant. Noah would have to tell me what the root meant and give me a word with the root in it.

They were off to a good start, all hands went up when I said "phobos" Mackenzie correctly spelled it, defined it and yelled out "bibliophobia-the fear of books!!!" then it went downhill-no one could remember anything except phobos! Everyword I called out was returned with a blank stare, and if I asked them to use other roots in a word, they all added "phobia" to their root. for example for "photo," meaning light, they gave me "photophobia", which one of them then said was a "fear of photographs." I realized quickly our study skills needed improvment! Noah was so determined to win, but the girls hands always went up first, or he simply did not know the answer. Finally, wnen I said the root "syn", Noah waved his hand wildly in the air and jumped up and down. When I called his name he excitedly yelled out, "Something God doesn't like for you to do!!!!" He was wrong, but how could I not let him take a step for that one? I explained that the word we were talking about was "syn," meaning with. Then I asked if someone could give me a word with "syn" and just as quickly as before Noah threw up his hand and shouted-"Cinnamon!!!" the girls insisted I let him take another step. When Mackenzie finally won, she asked what do I get for a prize? I said, you get to study your root words!!!"

Afterwards, we sat down to for Bible. We have been reading through Exodus, and memorizing the ten commandments, after the ten commandments had been given, I continued to read through the different rules and regulations that God gave to the Israelites. the kids were cracking up as I read some of them, but really amazed at how specific they were. Things like,
"A person must be put to death if they hit a pregnant woman" or "If you are aware that you have a mean ox, and it gores someone, you must be put to death..." Anyway after reading and discussion, I asked the kids to call out the ten commandments, starting with the number.
After our failed root word game, I was very happy when they all called the commandments out in turn, but something happened after we got to ten, and they just got plain silly. Noah said, "eleven...never hit a pregnant woman!" Without missing a beat, Mae said, "twelve...don't let your mean ox hurt your neighbor!" I was laughing and glad they were remembering what they read. Then Mackenzie called out, "Thirteen...Don't ring your neighbors doorbell in your underwear!!"
I was laughing so hard I almost fell of the couch. Noah added the final "extra" commandment, shouting out, "Fourteen....Don't pee in your neighbors bushes!!!" The room got silent and my eyes got big as I looked at him. "What?" he answered innocently, "That's not really a commandment, and Uncle John (his dad's brother AND our neighbor) doesn't mind....."
Okay, so now if you ask my children to recite the commandments, don't be surprised if they finish with, "oh yeah, and number eleven, NEVER pee in your neighbor's bushes. (even if it is your uncle!)"
And so goes another day....And I am always thankful that our house if nothing else, is filled with joy and laughter!

It's still Christmas here...

While everyone else is undecorating, I am resisting the urge to take down the lights and the tree..My parents are coming into town Monday night, so we will be doing Christmas all over again with them on Tuesday. They have sent presents ahead of them, so the kids are anxious to unwrap the gifts still under the tree-but who knows if the organizing and decluttering urge gets strong enough, I may un-decorate and just put the presents on the piano!! Noah is beside himself with glee as he has already felt the packages and is certain poppy sent him a roll of duct tape. Could his world be a more happier place? a bb gun, a zip line AND his own personal roll of duct tape...does life really get any better than that when your 7? Oh, and he lost a HUGE front, top tooth 2 days before Christmas, so now he is loving sticking straws in the hole in his mouth to drink his chocolate milk. And His foster brother Austin is visiting for a few days....and they are knee deep in a mud hole RIGHT NOW. Oh and Mike just came in to tell me he is (RIGHT NOW) making a platform for the zipline and raising the cable HIGHER then previously mentioned 20 feet off the ground. NOAH is one happy boy. And the girls just received the Christmas "gift" of getting their own blogs-which thrilled them beyond all belief. And the babies are napping...but wait, are those jingle bells I still hear? No, it's just my husband and his chainsaw-another oversized boy-enjoying his toys.....

The zip-line's maiden voyage and more company!

Saturday morning after Christmas, Mike and Noah were up and out early, determined to get the zip line going before our friends from South Carolina arrived at noon. Mike ran out of cable and had to make a mid-morning run to the home improvement store, but was still back in time to have everything together just as our company was pulling in the driveway. We greeted our sweet friends-who mind you-have been urban dwellers most of their lives, so I'm sure traveling to our little singlwide on a dirt road in the woods of MS was a big enough adventure for them, without throwing in the excitement of a zip line. After hugs and remarking how much all of our children have grown (they have daughters the same age as Mackenzie and Mae and a son the same age as Noah), we headed arounded back to view the zipline-mind you, this would be the first time I had ventured outside to look at my husband's handiwork-- My eyes, as well as the eyes of my dear friend, grew big as saucers, as we surveyed the extension ladder extended 20 FEET up, leaned against a big pecan tree, with a cable anchored to the tree just above the ladder. Mike had crafted a trolley that attached to the cable (which, I think he told me is supposed to hold 900 lbs), and attached to the trolley was a swing...and at the end of the cable-a distance of a little more than 200 feet, was a tire, attached to the cable...in order to stop the "rider" before the rider smacked into the tree as he/she zoomed down the zipline.
As I marveled at My husband's skill, I also wondered which one of my children would break an arm first. We stared up at Mike, standing 20 feet up in a crook of the tree, holding the swing.
"Who's first?" He called. At first I suggested he go first, but then I realized he was our families main source of income, and we could not have him laid up in a hospital due to falling off a zip line-
so the next choice was Mackenzie, who fears nothing, and quickly scampered up the ladder and onto the swing. Ready to view a thrilling 90 mph ride, we all watched, half in excitement, half in fear....as Mike let go of the swing, we all held our breath....the swing moved VERY slowly down the cable-so slowly, we all wanted to grab the swing at pull it the rest of the way-Mackenzie mosey-ied about halway down the zip line, before the swing hit the ground and dragged her the rest of the way. Each of the other kids took turns, and with each child, the ride went slowly, ending in the dirt about midway through the ride. Mike stood atop the ladder and chuckled..."I think I have a little reconfiguring to do...." His reconfiguring would involve pulling the cable tighter and having a steeper incline, although I expressed my concern with taking the cable higher than 20 feet off the ground. In the meantime, we left it as it was, and had a fun time watching the kids slide not so gracefully down the zipline, always hitting the ground in mid-ride.
And our friends admitted that it wasn't as dangerous as they thought it would be (not yet anyway). The rest of the day was spent enjoying our friends-trying to cram all of the remeniscing into a few hours, since their plans were to leave early the next morning. mae and her friend Ciara pulled out a typewriter and wrote stories together. Mackenzie taught Serena how to bake apple pie-the girls made one to keep and one to send home with them. Noah and Ethan tried out Noah's bb gun (under Mike's supervision of course) and our friend Luis cooked us supper-spanish rice with beans, chicken and a home-made concoction called sofrito-a blend of garlic, peppers, onion, olives and I'm not sure what else. When we all lived in Florida, where we first became friends, some of our best "food" memories involved Deanna and Luis' spanish cooking...so after stuffing ourselves again, we talked late into the night, trying to make up for the 3 years since we last saw each other! Sunday morning, at their request, we took them to Elvis Presley's birthplace, and then said our goodbyes. They headed home, we headed to church...all the kids asking how soon we would see them again. It's great to have those special friends-ones that no matter how long it has been since you have talked or seen each other, you can still pick up right where you left off.

Cristmas day-here comes the crowd..and the food....

We are definately a family with a deep affection for food, and many of our memories and traditions revolve around food. I make no apologies for this...but I know I will spend most of the new year trying to walk off what I ate on Christmas day alone! Every Christmas, our "big" Christmas meal involves little or no cooking. I think this "tradition" was started with Mike's grandmother, who was tired of spending the whole day cooking instead of enjoying time with her family. So The meal my children all look forward to on Christmas day consists of croissants, piles of roast beef, turkey, salami, ham and cheese, chips, dips and 10 pounds of peel and eat shrimp.
AND grandma's rule is the kids can eat as much as they want. Usually we gather at my mother in laws, but I suggested our house this year. By the time everyone arrived, our little house was very full- All our family, plus Mike's parents, His middle brother and wife, their 3 children, his youngest brother and his daughter, Mike's uncle and his college age daughter, and our older bachelor neighbor. It was quite a crowd, and I can honestly say we had a great time. Everyone stayed longer than they normally do, and chatted and laughed more than they normally do. Even though it was cold, the kids bundled up and headed outside to play flashlight tag and jump on the trampoline in the dark, and the grown ups filled up on cookies, cheesecake, shrimp and sandwiches. It was close to 9 when the last of the family headed home...and full and sleepy we wondered why we only do this once a year. I vow to initiate a family gathering at least every few months in 2010...

Christmas Eve, Christmas morning...

As I sit here sipping tea with honey, brought to me by my sweet oldest child, who probably wants something...I was busy reading other people's blogs, realizing, I need to go ahead and post on mine! We had a wonderful Christmas, here at the Barnes home. Christmas Eve, we normally attend a candlelight service and then go "light looking" (Noah's term for driving through heavily decorated neighborhoods, looking at lights), followed by hot cocoa. The rain this Christmas eve was torrential, so instead of venturing out, we had our hot cocoa at home and read prophesies about Christ, followed by the story of his birth. Everyone hauled their blankets and pillows into the living room, since somehow a few years ago, we started the tradition of everyone sleeping in the living room on Christmas Eve. Mie and I were struggling to stay awake in order to fill the kids stockings-we don't do the Santa thing, but the kids always look forward to the special treats we put in their stockings. Mackenzie remarked once, "sometimes our stocking gifts are better than what's under the tree!!" We always put coupons in there stockings for things like "a date with mom, including dinner and a movie" "trip to the bookstore to pick out a book", Mackenzie gets one every year for a date with dad to have lunch out and attend a favorite contemporary Christian concert that comes around each year. This year they each recieved 12-one for each month. I found a great little coupon book at the Hallmark store, which I was able to get for free with a coupon, so I didn't have to type allthe coupons myself! The other biggie in their stockings this year were book lights-for all the late night reading they like to do.
I was the first one up Christmas day, and had time to grab a shower and fix my hair before the kids woke up. Mike decided he would showere before the gift-opening began, and Mackenzie asked why he was taking the LONGEST shower he had ever taken! We always have a special breakfast casserole on Christmas morning-prepares the day before, we just pop it in the oven while we are opening gifts. (I will post the recipe hopefully later today, along with a few for other goodies we made this Christmas). The kids tore into their stockings, and quickly decided some of them wanted to trade coupons. Noah would not be moved. He was not trading any coupons, even though he couldn't even read all of them! Mackenzie was trying to bribe him out of his "fast food lunch of your choice" coupon. The babies ate soo much candy while we opened presents...Dakota was covered in Chocolate and Lexie had gummi-savers stuck everywhere. We typically don't do many gifts, but by the time the kids open grandparents gifts, they usually have way more than they need! The "Big" gifts this year for the older children were-Mackenzie recieved a full audio set of Chronicles of Narnia, Mae received a pretty lamp for the piano, and Noah recieved his cub-scouts uniform, which he promptly put on over his pajamas! Lexie had a musical tea-set and puzzles and Dakota had the biggest bucket of wooden blocks ever. They all got an assortment of books, including lamplighter's and Henty's. Even though Noah can't read them yet, he loves that he has started "collecting" what he calls "big boy"books. A collective gift was the zip line that Mike had been working hard at designing for the past month-hopefully it would be up and running by the next day, when our company arrived from South Carolina. The sweetest gifts under the tree were the ones the children had given to us and each other. Mackenzie gave me a jar filled with slips of paper-one for each week of the year-each with a special "treat" for me written on them. Things like "plan menu and grocery list in peace while I babysit" or "one free foot rub". Mae gave Noah her carhart fleece hat with the built in face mask, after he cried over losing his at the Christmas parade. Mackenzie gave her dad a framed picture of him and me, and gave her sister a coupon for taking her to the movies. We had a laugh at Noah's gift giving tactics-apparently he had gone around the house-well specifically into his sister's room-and gathered things to give as gifts. He gave Mackenzie a hat that was already hers, and gave Mae a stuffed animal that was Mackenzie's as well! After opening gifts and eating, we headed over to Mike's parents to open gifts. I must say, they were VERY creative this year in their gift giving...
Mae got a foam-egg crate pad to put on her bed-which she was thrilled with, since her sister already had one. Mackenzie got a HUGE box of baking supplies-flour, sugar, crisco, cherries, coconut, parchment paper, chocolate chips and a gift card for more cooking supplies at Wal-mart! (her uncle Paul chipped in on this gift as well). As I write, Mackenzie has just brought me a hot buttered biscuit from the batch she just whipped up. And Noah recieved a b.b. gun. and a jar with a million b.b.'s. Oh and STRICT instructions that he is only to use it under the supervision of his Dad. And I am the mom who said none of my children would ever play with guns. Noah now has a small arsenal of weapons, and I have eaten my words....
We headed back home to put the sugared-up babies down for naps, and for Mike to begin working on the zip line. Noah could not believe he was getting a b.b gun and a zip line in the same day..and I will probably be getting our family their own wing at the emergency room....

Catching up...

It has been quite awhile since I have posted, and I figured that since I just sent out our Christmas letter to friends and family, in which I invited them to come visit our family blog-
I probably needed to at least have a post that was more current than October 30!
We have been pretty busy since then, so my blog has been low on the list of things to do..
A week after my last post, we recieved a call about a little 2 year old boy, who came to stay for just 2 days, before getting to go stay with his grand-parents. A few days later, on the same day I went to speak at the foster parent training, we were called about another little boy, 18 month old
Dakota. He has been with us a month today, and while he is so sweet and precious, it is obvious that even at such a young as he is so confused about all the changes going on and all these new poeple around him. He will probably just be with us through Christmas, so we are continually trying to prepare the children for his leaving. I think Lexie and Mackenzie will miss him the most, but we are so enjoying him while he is here. Lexie is having a tough time learning to share, but it is sweet to watch the two of them walk around the house holding hands. They love getting into mischief together, and on most mornings can be found playing in the dog water bowl or taking all the ornaments off the bottom half of the Christmas tree! So again, no excuses for not posting, except that life has been busy! As we head into the new year, Noah has joined a local cub scouts group, which he is so excited about, and the girls are beginning weekly practices for the children's chorus which will accompany the local symphony in a performance this February.
So now I feel I have accomplished something....bringing things up to date....until next time...

From a Child's Point of View....

"God Places the lonely in families..." Proverbs 68:6..Funny that we read that verse tonight.
I have been asked to come speak at a training session for prospective foster parents, and so today I told the children I'd like to be able to share their thoughts on foster parenting when I speak. I asked Mae and Mackenzie to write an essay, and Noah to dictate to me and illustrate a story about our foster care journey. Mackenzie was too busy today with Math and grammar to get started on hers, but Mae and Noah worked on their rough drafts. Noah is still having a tough time some days, but It was so great to listen to him tell his "story" to me today. Here is what they came up with..I am very proud of them.

Noah's Story as told to mom
A foster family is for making a home for children. My family is a foster family. We give children a home. The first time we were a foster family, a boy named Austin came to stay with us. He was five-the same age as me. The day he came to our house we jumped on the trampoline and dressed up like cowboys. I showed him my room. I showed him his bed and his dresser. When he came he only had one toy car.

I was so excited to have a boy to play with. When Austin was with us, we had fun playing legos and lincoln los, building forts and riding bikes. I liked having a foster brother. Sometimes we wore matching clothes. But sometimes I got mad when he didn't want to play what I wanted to play. I always liked to play outside and Austin liked to stay inside and draw.

Sometimes I got jealous when he visited his mom and dad. He came home with new hot wheels andI got jealous. I told mom I wished I was in foster care so I could get hot wheels every week.
Mom said Austin gets special things sometimes because he only sees his parents once a week.
I didn't want to see my parents only once a week.

Sometimes we invited Austin's parents to do things with us. They went with us to Chuck E Cheese's. Austin's dad gave me extra tokens and bought me an ice cream. They had a birthday party for Austin and invited me. We invited them to the party we had for Austin.

Austin got to be with us a long time. When Mom and Dad talked about Austin coming home, I was sad. I really wanted him to be my brother. Mom and dad said his parents wanted him to come home and they missed him. I liked his parents. I knew they loved him alot.
I helped Austin pack his toys. I gave him my Diego playset and some cars. We drove to his house and he showed me his fort-he told me we could play there. I helped him bring his things in his room. he had almost 100 toys to unpack!!! I helped him unpack and gave him a hug.

I felt sad because now I didn't have a brother to play with, but I felt happy because now I could spend time with my dad all by myself.
I miss Austin and I want him to come visit me. I am happy Austin gets to be with his mom and dad, but I wish he stillcould be my brother.

I want to be a foster brother again because I like having a lot of brothers and sisters. I like having someone sleeping in my room. The next time I get to be a foster brother, I will be happy.

I also had a foster sister named Lexie and she got to stay. When she came to stay with us she was a tiny newborn. I thought she was cute but she cried a lot. When she got bigger I liked her more. Mom and dad said we were going to adopt her. To adopt means she will be my sister forever and not have to leave.

When we adopted Lexie we went to see a real judge! She told us Lexie was going to be ours forever. I felt like fainting because I was so happy she was going to stay. I'm glad God let her stay. I love her. My favorite thing about Lexie is her laugh. I hope someday we can adopt a little boy, too.

Mae's Story
My name is Mae. I am eleven years old. My favorite color is light blue. I have two sisters and one brother. I love to read and play the piano.

Before we became a foster family, my parents always wanted to adopt, but decided to become a foster family. We always talked about wanting more brothers and sisters.

Before we became a foster family, we prayed about it. We talked about it. My parents went to classes and we became a foster family.

I was happy because that meant more sisters. I was sad because that meant kids leaving.
I was curious because I had never been a foster sister.

When we became a foster family, we got to take care of a little boy, his name was Austin.
Austin was five, the same age as my brother. Austin had a great time, so did my brother-but Austin had to go home. Everyone was sad when he left, especially my brother.

But we also fostered a little baby girl. She was one week old and her name was Lexie. We adopted her. We finalized her adoption last month. She is almost two now.

The hard thing about being a foster sister are having to share your stuff, like toys, books and drawing stuff. And when they leave.

The great thing about being a foster sister is playing with them, helping out with them and being a big sister again.

I think people should become foster families because giving a home to someone who needs it is really great. It is great to help take care of children when their parents can not take care of them.I think God would want people to be foster parents.



Much to everyone's surprise, Austin called us tonight and asked to come visit next weekend. Mackenzie said when she talked to him he said, "Cissy, I'm coming home next weekend!" There is definately an empty place without him here.It will be so good to see him.