Becoming a Partner with Safe Families

It's so much easier to blog about the little new things going on in our lives that document the huge changes that are taking place.

Our newest biggest thing is that we just finished our application process, background check, interview, home inspection, reference check, and training to become a Safe Family. Safe Families for Children is a Christian ministry of Biblical hospitality that serves local families in crisis situations. We will be opening our home to children who need a temporary place to stay while their parents get back on their feet. The parents voluntarily place the children in our care while they work through illness, addiction, job loss, or any other number of struggles, and they do so with the help of Safe Families programs, staff and volunteers.

We first heard about Safe Familes about a year ago at church. At that point, we had only recently decided to homeschool, but after some thought, prayer, and conversation, it was clear that this was something that God was calling us to do too. It wasn't until this summer, however, that we got the ball rolling on the process. It was also right after that we decided to make an offer on our current home, so it was a little chaotic with packing and moving very quickly.

This new home offers many more opportunities for hosting children in need, but it also came with additional challenges that were non-issues in our former home. We also had a delay on getting internet here, and then we had an accident that broke my laptop, so our online training got postponed. After these few setbacks it is expected that our file will have its final review very soon and then we'll be contacted anytime after that when there is a child in need that is in our area.

So that's just a quick update on things, but I do hope to fill in some more thoughts and details as time allows. Right, like I expect to have more free time now! Well, in the meantime, your prayers and other support in this new endeavor are most appreciated. We're excited and nervous and everything in between, but are confident that overall and in the end this will be a benefit to all involved!

Animals + Reading + Music = Awesome

If you are on twitter and love science, you've got to follow @sciencegoddess. With over 30,000 followers she's about to the most popular person I know in real life (2nd only to @ahmir, an R&B group my cousin manages and I met at his wedding, yet I digress). I had the pleasure of meeting Joanne at a local tweet-up/girls night out and she was a darling. And smart. And beautiful. And encouraging and resourceful for my homeschooling endeavor. I might have a crush on her.

So today she tweeted about her most recent blog post on Scientific American. Though at the time I just saw the tweet and didn't realize that she had written the article. Later on Pinterest, I saw a homeschooling group pin the same article. Then I knew I had to investigate and I was so glad I did.

Unusual creatures is definitely something our kids love. With Tey at my in-laws, I could only show it to Bean. He was willing to hop out of the bathtub so I could show him the video of the aye-aye on my phone. Of course, then he went right back in but we were able to talk about what we saw, which is recorded on his blog. He's excited to see more videos. I'm requesting that the library buy this book and I'm trying to decide if I should download the music to my phone. I generally like free things, but THIS IS AMAZING. 

I mean, check out this video and his crazy instruments!

Hearst ties together my kids' love of animals, reading and music in a way I've never seen before. Thank you!

Jumping Fun

I heard through the grapevine that some of our friends think my husband and I are so laid back, that in a stressful situation, they ask each other, "What would Mr. and Mrs. Eaglet Trio do?" 

That made my day, because I'm actually a pretty high-strung, impatient, control freak, who often takes life to seriously...but, at least I'm self-aware. 

I'm trying to be more fun. Today I nailed it with the kids and all it took was a blanket,  a camera and their jumpiness. The blanket is to contain them to a certain spot and keep the others away so they don't get hurt. Then I just snapped pictures while they jumped the highest they could or posed their bodies in funny ways. 

Tey is so little and fast, it was hard to capture him in mid-air.

His cheesy smile shows how much fun he had.

I have no idea how he got his body like this and still landed without hurting himself.

Bean was like a little Spiderman. 

If I had a penny for every time I remind him to keep his tongue in his mouth when he jumps...
I told you I'm  high strung. I worry that he will bite his tongue off. 

BINGO! This was the pose he wanted me to capture.  It only look like 50 tries. PE for the day? Check! 

Christmas Eve 2012

This year, we did Christmas Eve at my in-laws. It was slightly chaotic because Bo was playing the band for church and we were trying to meet up with his grandarents and his brothers who were all arriving at different times.

Mae quickly made herself cozy on Great Grandpa's lap while the rest of the food was cooking.

 The food was awesome as usual. My mother-in-law's ham was especially amazing. I made challah bread, and it was ok, it needed more yeast. After we had some Christmas cookies!

  


Our family went off to church for a great service. Tey even sang on stage (usually he either doesn't go, or just stands and doesn't sing). Bean, I think feels too old for this already. Please! He's 6. Actually he's been coming with us to "big church" where he gets to sing each week, which he likes, and he surprisingly get a lot out of the messages. We talk about it a lot more during the week than we did when he used to go to kids' church. After church we returned back to my in-laws for dinner and opening presents.

Bean got a lego set from Grandpa and Grandma, which he built immediately when he got home (right). From Bo's older brother he got a Batman car, which shoots out Batman. He opened that once he as done unwrapping presents and was playing with it. He also got some fun animal gifts from Bo's younger brother: a grow-a-frog, and an ant pod (ant farm type thing pictured left). We are going to send away for the frog next week and the ants we have to wait until warmer weather to collect them from our yard. We'll be doing some studies of the animals too for homeschool.

Tey asked for Domino Rally from his grandparents and he's been playing it with Mae at home in the evenings. His older uncle got him a spy set (right) and he and Bean have been enjoying way too much. It's so cute seeing him in all his spy gear. His younger uncle got him a magnetic drawing thing (left). We're all addicted to that. It's an awesome thing to bring to a restaurant or in the car, and Tey has made good use of it at quiet time too.

Mae has been cooking up a storm for us with a new tea set she got from her grandparents. Bo, in particular plays with her a lot. It's a sight to behold! We haven't had a chance to play with the gifts Bo's older brother gave her. I think she's going to most love the stickers. She's been liking those recently. Bo's younger brother got her a game, which is awesome, because it's easy and fun enough for toddlers to play and it's hard to find something that ALL my kids can play. It's basically like a Simon Says game but it teaches colors, numbers, emotions, animals and other fun stuff. She LOVES the phone she got from her great-grandparents and I love the antique chair they got her. She mostly just tries to stand on it to reach things that we try to keep away from her :/

It was great to see family that we normally don't get to see and most special of all was finally meeting my new nephew! Omigosh, he is so adorable and really smart and fun. Bo and I agreed that that was the best part of Christmas.

Pics of Me

I am never in pictures. That's on purpose. But in going through the last couple weeks of pics on my camera, I found some that I'm be willing to share. These loved ones of mine make me so happy, no wonder I'm smiling so big in all of them!

Shaggy Sleepover

Tey brought a friend home from co-op that we got to take care of and have adventures with so that Tey could make an oral presentation to his class. Shaggy the Bear enjoyed a nature walk with us in the back yard. First we found some evidence of beavers. We have a couple of these old stumps on our yard near the creek. They are all old, so we don't plan on seeing any beavers anytime soon. :(

That day we also spread some seeds. I collected them off some asters growing along the side of the road near us. Earlier in the summer, we removed some invasive brush and this is our first attempts to restore that area with some native plants. We'll see how they grow. A couple days later we had some pretty strong winds. 

That Sunday we have some special pancakes with craisins and chocolate chips. How funny is it that Tey is concerned about getting Shaggy dirty from food, but was just dancing him around in dirt a couple days before? Silly old bear!

Tey's Thankfulness 2012

On the day before Thanksgiving, Tey and I made a little craft called the Tree of Thanks. Our homeschool co-op provided the supplies, including the pic of me. I love how they captured my true essence by not announcing that they'd be taking our pictures that day...adorning my McNair hoodie, pony tail, bags under my eyes, and possibly the wrong name tag. At least Tey's a cutie.

Anyway, I wrote down what he was thankful for on the leaves and now I have a sweet keepsake of my thankful Tey at about age 4 and a half.

I cherish his simplicity:

• We have shoes
• Food
• Trees help us breathe
• Games
• Homeschool
• Daddy teaches me chess
• We have a house
• We have a backyard
• Outside chairs (he likes dining al frescso)
• Trees with colorful leaves on them

It touched my heart that he even mentioned homeschool. I struggled so much this semester getting us organized, scheduled and on a good routine but felt like I fell short. Tey wants to do so much more and I don't always have stuff prepared for him. Still, he is fairly flexible and understanding and still prefers homeschooling to going to school.