Sara’s Own Little Spot

While David’s mom was here we went to the Focus on the Family center. It reminded me of Mr. Biggs as far as things for the kids to do. There are multiple rooms with climbing and sliding areas, movie rooms playing veggietales, a three story slide that circles in and out of the building, it was very neat. It was all FREE! I have heard of girlfriends talking about it, they do lots of homeschooling meetings and groups there. My mother in law wanted to check it ot the last few times she was here, and we finally had the chance to. It was so neat and fun. There is a "soda shop" there and you can get meals (hotdog, hamburger, pizza with chips a drink and a cookie..) for under 3 bucks a meal. David, myself, mom and two of our three kids ate for 18 dollars. How awesome is that?!

The gift shop was really neat and gave me some great ideas for books to buy. I’d rather get them cheaper off of amazon.com but it was great to be able to look through all of them. There is some wonderful gift ideas and art… i’ll have to remember that for the holidays. Their kids section was amazing! So many books I have not seen before, diff. bibles and gift ideas. Mom bought River his fave LarryBoy movie he has been renting from netflix. He was quite happy over that!

Here are a few pictures from out trip.

My book club from church just had our meeting tonight at my house to discuss the book we read a bit ago. We all had it read, but our schedules were crazy so we missed out on meeting last month… but anyways… give me some ideas for future books please! I have a few books that I have read (The Atonement Child… 12 extraordinary women, bad girls of the bible…) but i’d like some more ideas to suggest. We prefer fiction for the group. We have such crazy lives with hubby’s and kids that its nice to sit down and NOT read a book about being a better wife or mother. LOL. We read those too, but something for fun with my gals is what I am asking about. What have you read? What did yu like about it? Is there an author you prefer?

Can you believe that Elian is 5 months old now? This is just blowing my mind how much he has changed. He is such a little handsome man and I thank God everyday for this blessing he has given us. God was with us when we went through everything with our little boy and I am so grateful for the prayers he has answered!

Here is a picture of Elian just born and one of him this morning being held by his grandma who is visiting.

David’s mom is here and after she booked her ticket she told us to go somewhere for a night while she is here and she will watch the three kids. Brave woman. LOL. Then again, she raised three of her own… So we picked a bed and breakfast and we had a blast! It was up in the mountains, away from the city and private. The owners were amazing, friendly and could certainly bake/cook! We had a nice room with a king bed and a private 16 jet hot tub in the room. We slept with the patio door open and let the mountain breeze in. David took me out to dinner at a bistro in the nearest town which was such good food! We just had an amazing night! Here are a few pictures… there are some of our room, our view, the awesome chandelier that was handblown overseas… I have more to add still though.

So I did a post last night on River going to kindergarten and totally forgot to update you on our choice of what we are doing schooling wise.

I am all for homeschool and support it fully. We are doing something with River that many people do here in our town. It is a half homeschool/half going to school idea. He goes to school and they work with him on certain subjects and it allows him to be around other kids. Then we work with him at home with other things and build up what he has been learning while at school. I don’t think every child needs this, I know many kids who are at home only and do so fabulous! River is the kind of kiddo that needs interaction with other kids his age and thrives being in a social setting. Playdates once a week and homeschool meetings doesn’t really cut it for him.

I don’t know if we’ll make the same choice for Abi and Eli, we’ll see their personalities and needs. But for my eldest, this is what is right for him. But I still am partly homeschooling him! So give me some ideas ladies, please! What has helped you strengthened their reading skills? Do you use a program or do you do your own thing? Do you use a mix? What activities do you like doing? I am in love with the idea of homeschooling and want to make this work so any help is appreciated!

See what happens when I get going? I found this awhile back and have been meaning to put it on here also. Hope you enjoy it. It’s a nice reminder to us mommies. This is actually from a local church here near me. I love their services and David and I had a blast when we went there with my cousins back when we were dating.

I can’t believe my baby boy is starting kindergarten! I looked at him this morning as he came downstairs for breakfast after waking up and realized that his pj bottoms are now highwaters. When did that happen? When did he grow two inches? I don’t think I gave the approval for that! There are times that I think, oh this 5 year old stuff is so much fun! He can ride a two wheeler and go on bike rides with me, even 4 mile rides! He can go on mommy/son or daddy/son dates to the movies to see disney movies and he likes to get popcorn to share. He is a gentleman and always opens doors for his sissy and mommy along with any other ladies that he see’s…. then there are other times that I jsut want to shrink him back down to my cute little 7 month old I used to carry on my hip.

I can’t tell you how much fun its been watching this young man grow. Oh the laughs, the tears shed and prayers sent up to God. Prayer of thanks, of appreciation and even some crying out for his help to help me raise this child the way I should! What parent hasn’t asked that one from God? I certainly haven’t done this on my own, that’s for sure.

Just wanted to share a pic of my handsome River and share my excitment and sadness that he is starting school.

I am doing a down syndrome awareness walk in August and I raised $200.00 for it! I set the goal to $200.00 because it’s just Abi and I walking… okay, me walking while pushing the princess in her rolling throne aka stroller. So I felt that that was a good goal to hit, and I hit it!

Here is the link to my page if you still want to donate. http://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=273488&supId=225884660 
There’s nothing better than beating your goal I thought it was an awesome cause to support and am so excited to do the walk with my baby girl. I’ll post pics after we do it!

If you do donate, thank you so much in advance! Even if you don’t donate, we could use your prayers! We are hoping the weather cooperates for this walk and that lots of people show up for it to raise money for this cause. And don’t forget to pary for the people that deal with down syndrome everyday and the families that it affects.

A girlfriend I have met recently writes, puts together and finds many devotionals. Her husband does the same and I like what they come up with and find. I wanted to share one of my faves with you guys!

What is biblical forgiveness?

Forgiveness is unconditional. We don’t earn it; we don’t deserve it; we can’t bargain for it. Forgiveness is not based on a promise to never do it again. We offer forgiveness to somebody, whether that person asks for it or not.

When somebody says, “I will forgive you if…,” that’s not forgiveness; that’s bargaining. When Jesus stretched out his hands on the cross and said, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34), he took the initiative, not waiting for us to first clean up our lives.

Forgiveness doesn’t minimize the offense. It actually cheapens forgiveness when somebody comes and asks for your forgiveness and you say, “It’s no big deal. It really didn’t hurt. It’s okay. It didn’t really bother me.” If it wasn’t a big deal, you wouldn’t need forgiveness, and you wouldn’t need to offer it. If it really requires forgiveness then you should not minimize it when somebody asks you for forgiveness.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean the relationship resumes without change. The Bible teaches three things that are essential to resume a relationship that has been broken: repentance, restitution, and rebuilding trust.

You have to be genuinely repentant and truly saddened about what you did. That’s not just saying a quick, “I’m sorry.” It means heart-fully and meaningfully saying, “I was wrong. Please forgive me.”

Sometimes forgiveness should be accompanied with some sort of physical or material restitution. If I came over to your house and burned it down, it wouldn’t be enough for me to go, “Oops! I’m sorry.” I’d need to assume that debt because I destroyed your house.

When it comes to rebuilding trust, it may take a long, long time. Forgiveness is instant, but trust is something that’s only rebuilt over a period of time. It must be re-earned.

Forgiveness isn’t forgetting what’s happened. You’ve heard this phrase over and over: forgive and forget, forgive and forget. There’s only one problem with it – it’s really difficult to forget a hurt that’s been in your life. It’s like when you go on a diet; you think about food all the time. You think about it more than when you’re not on a diet. The only way you can forget something is to actually refocus on something else.

And that is focusing on how God takes the bad and works it out “for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose …” (Romans 8:28, NLT).