I will get back to homeschooling posts soon...

I promise.

I know most of you read this blog for homeschooling ideas and encouragement and lately it has been a place of prayer requests and updates. But the "prayer of the upright is His delight" (Prov 15:8), and Psalm 65 calls God "thou who hearest prayer!" I know many, if not all of my readers, are people of prayer. Your emails and sweet words of encouragement have demonstrated how you consider it a privilege to serve the true and living God who not only allows us to come to Him in prayer but delights in it. I appreciate your prayers and concern, especially because many of us do not know one another in person, yet you have shown much compassion. Thank you.


My mother has made it through all of her tests and procedures without needing stints. At first it was believed she had a 50% blockage, but upon further examination, doctors found there was no blockage at all! Praise the Lord!


I would ask you to continue to pray for wisdom and continued healing as she still experiences shortness of breath and chest pain. This could be due to the effects of post-polio; however, we do not want to lump all of her health problems into this category and overlook something correctable.


Thank you also for prayers for my strength and healing. I made it through the EMG just fine. No mad scientists or electric chairs! Just a nice, Christian, pro-homeschooling man with little needles that barely hurt and electrical stimuli that did not hurt as much as the pain I feel during a "flare up" of my "condition".

A conclusive diagnosis has not been made. No spine probs. No neurological probs. My vitamin D levels were very low, and I am taking a mega dose each week. My pain has subsided; however, I do not think the source of the pain has been found. This problem has always waxed and waned, so for now, I am content to live with my mysterious "thorn in the flesh" with the prayer that I would remain humble and that God would be glorified in my weakness. My new blog will be about my efforts to improve my physical condition through prayer, exercise, and diet. I will launch it soon, Lord willing.


Again, thank you for your continued prayers and for sticking with me during this difficult season. By God's grace, we are returning to our regular routine a little more each day, and I anticipate more school-related posts in the near future.


With love in Christ,

Dawn

A Yellow and Blue Kitchen

After I left the hospital today, I had to go to Home Depot.

I only had Wilbur with me. Orville was with Michael, running other errands, and we were going to meet up at a local restaurant for dinner. I found what I needed quickly. I knew Michael would not be done yet, so I decided to kill a little time by looking through flooring samples.

Wilbur LOVES Home Depot. He flipped through every sample in the store until he found the flooring he wants in his future home. He is a hard wood man- solid hard wood in natural oak. He likes the light tone because it goes well with yellow, his favorite color. It seems he is set on having a house with yellow walls.

Then we made our way to the kitchen cabinets where there are several kitchen mock-ups. We walked from mini-kitchen to mini-kitchen, and he gave me the scoop on what he liked and didn't until we found IT. A Yellow and Blue Kitchen!

The wall was painted a really lovely shade of pale yellow, the cabinets were white, and the counter top was country blue. Wilbur exclaimed, "Now, this is MY style. When I grow up, this is the kitchen I want to have."

As he opened drawers and inspected the layout, noticing there was not a sink (he's a stickler for details), he talked about how he hoped God would send him a wife who likes yellow and blue. He went on and on about how it is his dream to provide for her and how happy it would make him to give her such a lovely place to work.

I was touched by it all and told him that I thought it was a nice vision and promised to pray that God would send him the wife that he needs.

Then he said, "Mom, I know I can't know for sure yet. But I have a good idea about who I may marry, and she likes yellow and blue, too. Best of all, you will really like her. She is your kind of girl. AND she goes to our church."

I will spare him the embarrassment of announcing over the internet the exact name of whom he dreams of marrying. We don't promote dating or boyfriends/girlfriends either, so I try to deal with those little boy dreams carefully.

But I smiled when he told me because she is my kind of girl.

And if it is God's will, I will dance on their wedding day.

We concluded, however, that we should not make any definite plans but would pray about the right woman being brought to him at the right time.

And whoever she is... she is going to have one very nice, yellow and blue kitchen. My son intends to make sure of it.

Blog Silent

I am going blog silent for a few days, maybe even a week or two.

My mom is having a heart cath on Friday. She may need stints, and there may also be a valve problem. I need to use my spare time this week to help her.

The cath is a much simpler procedure than it sounds. The doctor will send a probe through a vein in her leg, and if the stints are needed, can put them in through the same "route". This has me completely amazed, yet I am always concerned for her when any procedures are completed because of her disability and already weakened body.

Please be in prayer for her. And for the boys and me- that we won't worry. Ask the Lord to guide the doctor's hand and to give him wisdom. Ask Him to heal my mother.

I will be back to the bloggy world soon, Lord willing.

Resting in Christ,
Dawn

Going for Green

The Olympians are not the only ones celebrating victory this week.

Instead of gold, I won green. Unfortunately, no, not the kind of green that I could put in my savings account or use to buy something nice. My green victory is better than that and has been nine years in the making....

Imagine if you will, a young, twenty-something Homeschool Dawn seated near her darling Wilbur. He is a little-bitty baby, seated in his high chair, completely unaware of the new experience coming his way... his first taste of baby food.

Because HSD is a good mommy and loves her little boy, she is starting him out with peas- a green vegetable, of course, so he will not develop a taste for the sweeter fruits and veggies of other colors. She took this route with Orville only one year earlier, and it worked. As soon as the spoon of green mush touched his tongue, he said, "Mmmm... doh". Which was his way of saying, "Thanks, Mom, that was great. I appreciate that you are instilling healthy eating habits in me. Could I have some more, please?"

Strong in her conviction that introducing greens first produces a healthy eater, HSD scoops up a bite of peas, sings a little song about eating, and flies the spoon to Wilbur's mouth.

Wilbur's reaction?

Thwwwwpppp! (Which was his way of saying, "Thanks, Mom, for looking out for my nutritional needs, but yuck!")

Determined not to give in, HSD sings another eating song and "feeds" her little darling another bite.

Thwwwpppp!!

This went on until the jar was empty, HSD was covered in green spittle, and the kitchen was colored green from floor to ceiling. Yes, it was even on the ceiling. It was like a St. Patrick's Day celebration gone bad.

Well, I am a determined woman and have not given up the battle for the green. Tonight, I brought out my secret weapon.

And what, pray tell, is my secret weapon?

Ham pie.

I should have thought of this sooner. I never got Baby Wilbur to eat peas, green beans, or anything else green. But when I whipped open I jar of ham dinner... let's just say it was a good thing for me that he didn't have teeth yet. I might be missing a finger or two.

But back to my weapon....

I mixed together cubes of ham, swiss cheese, a little light mayo, carrots, onion, lemon juice, ground mustard, and CELERY! I poured it into a pie crust and baked it up. When I served it, Wilbur heard the words "ham", "cheese" and "pie" and inhaled it so quickly that our community tornado sirens sounded.

It wasn't until his tenth bite that he noticed the little green slivers within his slice of the yummy pie. He thought they were pickles, and I was not inclined to say differently.

Until dinner was over, that is.

Hee, hee.

Once his plate was clean, I told him exactly what he had eaten. His eyes widened and he exclaimed, "Hey! Celery is pretty good!"

He has promised that tomorrow night he will try....

Are you sitting down?

Zucchini!!

Touchdown!!!

Now, how can get him to turn off a light when he leaves a room?

Birds of a feather...

Go birding together!

You only need to read a few of my posts to know that I am a bird watching nut bird enthusiast.

Recently, friends of mine, both bloggy and irl, have caught the bird watching bug. One of those friends is Kellie @ Blue House Academy. BHA was one of my favorite blogs before Kellie caught the bug, but now, she has the most beautiful photographs of our feathered friends on display.

Her most recent post, A little bird told me..., is filled with great ideas and resources for teaching your young bird watchers. If you are wanting a good unit study on birds or nature, I encourage you to check out the ideas and resources she has suggested.

Also check out my Birding 101 series. I have links to each article in the series in my sidebar. Lord willing, I will be adding to the series soon since my pain has subsided and we are getting some nice sunny days here in Georgia, perfect for filming a tutorial or two.

Happy birding!
Dawn

Great Backyard Bird Count

Orville wrote a spot over at The Write Brothers on the birds we identified during the Great Backyard Bird Count. If you are interested, hop on over.

So... what do you think?

I spent most of the morning waiting for a call from a car repair service.

A teeny dink in my windshield, which was patched about five years ago, turned into a series of large cracks last week. I had an appointment to take it to the "shop" for replacement this morning and was supposed to go when called by the repairman.

The call was scheduled to come "sometime between 9 and noon", so I decided to have the boys do some independent work while I waited for "the call". I cancelled any direct instruction or group work for the day, thinking I wouldn't get much accomplished knowing that a call could come at any time.

While I waited, I worked on the blog. I changed the layout and color scheme, as I am sure you have noticed, and added a picture I purchased from istockphoto.com. I am planning to move to wordpress this summer and am thinking about what I will want the new Olive Plants to look like.

So... what do you think of the new look? Please feel free to give me feedback.

Blessings,
Dawn

p.s. I also started a new blog, not the new and improved Olive Plants but a totally new blog, on wordpress this morning. I hope to launch it soon. I have a very interesting purpose for this new blog. Anybody curious? Any guesses?

p.p.s. The repairman called at noon. The new windshield arrived with a crack in it. Lord willing, it will be repaired tomorrow. So I guess I will have another morning to work on the new blog.

A Fond Farewell

In times of difficult circumstances, choices have to be made that are not always easy. I had to make one of those decisions this week and step down from the TOS Homeschool Crew.

Our homeschool has faced many disruptions in the past few weeks. There have been multiple doctor's appointments. I have had to adjust to a slower pace and allow myself time to take meds and rest. It has been a season of learning to let go and to do according to my ability and not according to my hopes, dreams, and good intentions.

With that said, I have had to face the fact that the Crew assignments have become too taxing. I have been assigned five to seven vendors per month, with some vendors sending me multiple products. That averages out to more than one review assignment per week, a pace that my aching body will not allow me to keep any longer.

For you, my readers, this will mean fewer product reviews to read, perhaps even none. I have seven reviews in process that I will complete, but after that I am doubtful that I will accept any offers to do product reviews until this season of pain passes. I am saddened that I can no longer serve the homeschool community in this capacity. I know from your comments how many of you read and appreciate my reviews. I have appreciated all of your good feedback, too.

I hope you will also enjoy a review-free Olive Plants and will continue to visit me. This change should free me up to write more about our lives as homeschoolers, my original intent for this blog.

Let me end by providing a list of my 10 favorite items received while on the TOS Homeschool Crew, a rite of passage for retiring Crew members.

• Nature Friend Magazine
• Quarter Mile Math
• GrapeVine Studies
• Bright Ideas Press
• Zeezok Publishing
• Math Score
• A Journey Through Learning
• Educaching
• Artistic Pursuits (in process, but loving it)
• All About Spelling and the Beehive Reader (in process)
  
  

Thank you to the TOS Homeschool Crew for allowing me to be a part of this year's voyage. I have enjoyed the journey. I am sorry to have to row back to shore prematurely and appreciate everyone's understanding.

Blessings,
Dawn

An Update

I wanted to share an update on my condition for those who are praying for me.

Two weeks ago, an MRI was taken of my spine. I received the results yesterday. My spine is healthy. My doctor was shocked by this. He was certain there was a bulging disc; all the symptoms pointed to it. I would like to claim healing; however, the pain is still present.

So he ordered another round of tests, most of which were completed yesterday. I am scheduled to undergo an EMG on Friday, the 19th, to determine if I have neurological problems.

Please ask the Lord to reveal the root of my pain and grant the doctors involved much wisdom. I have experienced this pain off and on for 18 years and I have seen about a dozen doctors and undergone a number of tests before, including 3 MRI's, all to no avail. The EMG is a new step. Though I am concerned about what exactly "neurological problems" might mean, I am thankful to have a doctor who is not giving up on this.

I trust the Lord and know that He knows exactly what is wrong with me. My faith is in Him to reveal these things to us, to heal me with or without modern medicine, and to grant me the grace needed to live for His glory whatever the outcome.

Please pray for my physical strength, particularly during the EMG. I am not exactly thrilled with the idea of being stuck with needles and exposed to electrical stimuli. If you read Olive Plants regularly, you know about my active imagination. I am having to bring some over-the-top thoughts captive (think mad scientist with an electric chair) and trust the Lord to be my help during a somewhat painful test.

Thank you for your continued prayers and kind emails and comments.

May God be glorified by my weakness.
Dawn

Happy Valentine's Day

We have a Valentine's tradition at our house.

I make steak and popcorn shrimp with twice baked potatoes, green beans with almonds, salad, homemade rolls, and cheesecake.

We are frugal and would rarely splurge for steak and cheesecake.

I am allergic to shrimp and do not make it often out of fear that just touching it will cause a reaction, even though it is Orville's favorite food.

On Valentine's day, however, I throw caution to the wind. I spend a little extra and handle the food with care. I fix a lovely table, serve up the feast with love and sparkling juice, and all three of my valentines lap up the surf and turf in record time.

They always buy me something nice, too, and hand it over with hugs and kisses and big thank you's. Valentine's Day is a special time for us.

But none of that happened this year.

NONE OF IT.

Because I just did not feel like it.

Which made me feel even worse.

I don't feel like doing much of anything lately because of the recent return of chronic pain. I have had a few rough weeks, and you have probably noticed. My blog has been like a ghost town, mostly because the pain has made it difficult to organize my thoughts and put them into writing.

I hurt up and down my back with stabbing pains in two spots. My neck is stiff, and I pretty much have kept a headache for six weeks. And I never know when the stabbing pain in my hip will start. When it comes, I cannot find relief. It hurts to sit, stand, walk, and lie down. Michael has to drag me to the bed, if I can stand to be touched, or I have to us my rolling chair walker to drag myself there.

Sometimes the pain episode lasts for a few minutes. Sometimes it lasts for a few days. I never know when it will hit or for how long it will stay. I cannot find a "trigger" either.

I guess you are wondering where the "happy" is in this Valentine's Day post.

It is that my family was not disappointed because I did not set a grand table this year.

They did not act like the sky would fall because they did not get their traditional feast.

They did not make me feel like a failure because I could not give them all that was in my heart to give.

Instead, my husband took the kids and me to Cracker Barrel. I know that is not a place of traditional romance, but for me, last night, it was the most romantic place in the world.

We spent the evening gathered around an old wooden table eating biscuits and jelly, hashbrown casserole, and dumplings. We jumped pegs in that little wooden triangle game. We drank sweet tea and talked about Webkinz.

And there was no place I would rather have been.

When we returned home we broke out our Apples to Apples game and laughed at whether a truck stop or the Midwest was more fragrant. My midwestern friends will be happy to know the truck stop won.

The night ended with a stomach virus for Orville and Michael. Not a dream ending, but that's when I got to show my love by rubbing achy bellies until 2 a.m.

I think sometimes we, or at least I, place unreasonable expectations on love. We give it its own holiday and commercialize it. We think we have to a have a romantic night out or a perfectly set table at home, complete with flowers and candy and maybe even jewelry.

But I know that my husband could have bought the most expensive piece of jewelry available and presented it with an elaborate bouquet of flowers and it would not have held as much value as the kindness he showed me last night. It would not have been as valuable to me as the fun we shared as a family. It would not have expressed his love for me as much as his lack of expectations.

He just wanted a night with me and the kids, and I love him for that.

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. 1 Pet 1:22