Big savings on Homeschool books!

I just got back from another homeschool used book sale. There are several homeschool co-op groups in the St. Louis area, and this is that time of year when the sales are on! Over the past two weeks I have gotten some great deals and probably saved around $250! Now I can shop on Amazon and get what is left for next year's curriculum.

Two other groups where I often find good used homeschool book deals: I subscribe to the Homeschool Lounge, and have joined their "Buy/Sell Used Curriculum" sub-group. I also am part of the MOMYS yahoo group, a group for larger families, which sends out emails on line regarding items members have for sale.

Back to Homeschooling

We are pretty much settled into living in my mother's house for the moment, and have her basement set up for school, office, etc. The kids all seem to have jumped right back into school with no trouble, and the books we don't seem to be able to find, we have found on Amazon or at the library. I am so thankful I created weekly schedules for the whole school year ahead of time so that we could just pick up right where we left off in the midst of transition. We are however a month behind now after the move, so we will be working on school all summer (which we end up doing most of the time anyway to spread it out a bit). We use Saxon Math and Sonlight, supplementing with Bob Jones for language arts, and we are pretty much diehards for this method. Amazingly the older kids are getting all their work done by noon with little help, and have time to help the little kids so Jim can get more translation done, and I can do some job hunting. I hope to go back to work full time as a nurse, and so it is a real blessing that the kids are all in a nice routine for school.

Painting, a long-lost passion revived

This past year has been a life-changing year for me. Lots of hard things to wrestle with, some ups and quite a few downs. But I made a decision last year that I was going to begin doing things that I was passionate about against all odds, and begin pursuing dreams that have been tucked away for a long time, almost forgotten by the business of life. One of those passions is art. As a child I always seemed to be drawn to a pencil or paint, and at the age of 13 was mentored by a great Junior High Teacher in watercolor painting. Over the next decade I dabbled in art, and was even offered some prestigious 4-year scholarships, but I was restless and wanted to do so many other things.

Well, having done those "so many other things", getting back into some of long-lost passions like art has been a stabilizing thing for me, and has helped me reconnect with who I am, especially at this point in my "mid-life" when so many things are changing.

With our move back to the US and our need to have extra income to save up for a house, I'm brainstorming many ideas to make extra money. One way I have decided to try is to sell my art.

Last fall I did several pieces, which I was able to sell (see my link to the right), the first time I have tried sell anything I've done besides a cake. It encouraged me to keep trying to do more and do better. Over the past four days I painted a picture that has been haunting me for many years, a picture taken by a friend in a remote African village while we were doing a mobile clinic, a place where I almost didn't go, but where I felt God prompting me to go, where no white person may ever again show their presence. This picture, entitled "Window to the World" is now for sale, and should be posted on boundlessgallery.com in the next 24-hours.

A "Bad Back" Week

This past week I have been in a lot of pain. I apparently pulled a shoulder muscle again in my upper back, the pain of which then got continually worse for the next five days until I was in the ER with blotchy vision and pain stronger than I have ever had before. I was sure I had slipped a disc. 6 years ago I was diagnosed with arthritis in my neck and a couple bulging discs, for which I went to physical therapy. That has worked for me up until now. Over the past year in Africa the pain was getting more easily provoqued, especially after riding on the bad roads. It was one of the medical reason we decided it was time to leave Africa and move back to the US where I could hopefully slow down the process and have better access to medical care when things got bad. However the past month of moving out of our house, dealing with our luggage, traveling on the plane, and unpacking hundreds of boxes which we had put in storage here in the US, put extra strain on my back, finally culminating in another pain crisis. Thanks to some new medications given to me by the ER doctor, and some rest, I am feeling better. It seems to just be another pulled muscle, which aparently triggered a migrain, my first. So I am back to being more careful, doing some physical therapy on a daily basis at home (with the help of Jim).

Our Son Drinking Horse Blood

Here's a note my husband posted on his facebook, which I just had to pass along. Our son Gabriel (4) is a cute li'l guy, but he asks a lot of questions. Most of them, we're convinced, he asks just because he's trying to be cute or silly or just trying to see how many we will answer before telling him to can it.

Today we had grape juice with supper. After the whole family had thoroughly discussed the grape juice and its anti-oxidants and whatever other healthy properties the grape juice offered, Gabriel, in typical Gabriel fashion, pointed to the grape juice and asked, "What dat?"

He was either not listening, or he was trying to get a rise out of Jim. Two can play that game.

"Horse blood," Jim answered (expecting to turn the tables on the wee lad), "want some?"

"Yeah!" Oh, the glee in his expression was priceless. (Jim loves to say things like that. Honestly, I think he really thought it was horse blood and wanted to try it!)

So Jim poured him some grape juice, and he loved it.

There was a little grape juice left in the pitcher near the end of the meal, so Gabriel asks, "Daddy, me hab mo horse blood, please?"

It was very cute, and he remembered to be polite too! But Jim decided that he must have been listening that last time, so he explained (before word got out that Jim makes our kids drink horse blood!) that it wasn't really horse blood, it was just grape juice.

He drank the grape juice, and he loved it all the same.

Then he asks, "Daddy, you shoot him?"

Hmmm, is this kid listening or not?!

Reflections on my "Redemptive Time" Post

I find it ironic that a few weeks ago I wrote about wanting "a quick fix" and not having to wait to make the transition at this phase of our lives. Now we have suddenly found ourselves swept forward very quickly into that transition due to the events of the last few weeks. As stressful as it was, I have to say that I am relieved that the time has come and we can get on with it. What a crazy ride it has been. In just a few days we will fly home to the US. We are getting anxious and excited. It is hard to imagine while sitting here by the fan in this cement-block, screened-in guest house on the Western coast of Africa at the hottest, sweatiest, dirtiest time of year, that by the end of this week we will be sitting in an air-conditioned, carpeted, dry-walled house in the Midwestern United States with 24-hour electricity, running water and all the creature comforts, with a Taco-Bell and Walmart just minutes away. The bumpy pot-holed filled dirt-roads will be replaced by smooth, paved freeways. Jim always says everything in the US is "plus doux" (sweeter, softer, more comfortable). We are so thankful for those things that many people in the US take for granted. Even at this crossroads in life where we are officially "homeless" (ok, it isn't as bad as it sounds) I am so thankful for the many blessings God has showered upon us- for family, for friends, for providing for all of our needs, for people here in Africa who have become family to us and who will always be a part of our lives even though removed by long distance, and on the other side of the ocean those from whom we have been apart for so long, who are ready to receive us back home, who are already offering their help to meet us at the airport, store our belongings, find us a vehicle, and find us housing. We are truly blessed. We count it such a privelege to have the friendship of so many and to be a part of the body of Christ around the world.

Not Looking Back

Well, we finally moved out of our African home of 11 years. It has been a hard two weeks. For more information, you can read about it on our family blog, www.bettisonfamily.blogspot.com.

It has been hard, but I'm truly thankful it is behind us and over. It may take us awhile to recover, but we are so ready to move on and look forward to starting over somewhere else together as a family. In all the stress and chaos, there was a sense of great peace in knowing we had our faith and we had eachother. Home is not a house, but it is family, and we are together through it all. Our kids seem to be taking it all very well, better than their parents for sure.

I take comfort in the words of Jeremiah, who in times of distress found hope in God, and in whom all God's people can find hope and refuge: "For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11