Sweet Surprise

Just learned of this awesome new company called Vintage Remedies!
"Vintage Remedies provides educational resources for healthy and natural lifestyles for all ages! We offer a curriculum series for ages 2-12 that enables parents to teach little ones about healthier habits.
We also operate the Vintage Remedies School of Natural Health, which trains herbal and wellness professionals around the globe. Our comprehensive programs are biblically based and backed by evidence based scientific research." (copied from the info section of their FB page)

How neat is that?? Helping parents like you and me teach our kiddos about healthy lifestyles! I am so excited to really dig into their products and see what all they offer!!

Another super cool thing they offer is a you Tube channel with instructional videos on how to make different creams, rubs, lotions etc. Check it out!!
Here's the link to one of their videos on a Peppermint Foot Soak that I can't wait to try!!! ENJOY!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVNRri1ZVN8

God took my half-hearted effort and gave me something GREAT!

Have you ever gone into something half-hearted? Thinking you'd be happy getting even a little out of if, not really expecting much at all? Well, that's what happened with me this year with the Ultimate Homeschool Expo. I had heard a bits and pieces about the expo in different circles, but being a new homeschool mom I didn't really know alot about it. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Randy and I had hoped to attend a convention this year for some direction and to see what some of the vendors had to offer as well as have the opportunity to hear/talk to speakers who have been in the homeschool community for several years. But as with most things lately, the money just was not there and we couldn't afford to travel to a large convention this year. Of course, as usual, we failed to rely on the fact that God had already worked things out for us before we even knew we needed Him to. FIVE YEARS before we needed Him to actually!!!
That's how long ago some amazing people began the Ultimate Homeschool Expo. When I originally heard about the expo I thought maybe I would buy a ticket as a supplement to another convention I planned to attend until money got tight and then the the $25.00 ticket to the UHSE started to look like my only option. So we decided we would buy the ticket and if it wasn't very beneficial we were only out 25 bucks! Besides, there were some freebies I would get so I thought maybe it would at least be a wash...

Little did I know, I was in for the surprise of my life! I have been so blessed by this expo! The freebies were great, but the real treasure was in the live and bonus audios! The live audio are offered with an open chat room as well. So not only are you able to listen to the speaker, but you get to meet, discuss and grow relationships with other parents that you would never have the time to do at a live convention. Plus, whatever you miss in the session while you're chatting it up with your new pals, you can listen to later as all live sessions are recorded and then uploaded to the membership site!

The host and owner of the expo Felice Gerwitz moderates the chat room and takes questions then at the end of the session relays all of those questions to the speaker and he/she answers them RIGHT THERE! Try to get that at a live convention! The speakers may have time for "a few" questions but here you actually get discussion. If you're still confused or your question wasn't completely answered just chat that in and Felice will dig a little deeper with the speaker!

I never thought about how chaotic a live convention would really be and how hard it would be to cultivate any relationships outside of those you had before you got there, but stop for a moment and think about it... I liken it to shopping on Christmas Eve. Everyone is rushing around trying not to miss that one thing they're looking for. Ironically enough, just like with Christmas isn't sharing our faith and growing God's kingdom what we're SUPPOSED to be doing? And yet, we're always hurrying around, no time for one another. Well I can honestly say that during expo week I could not wait until each session time so I could chat with my new sisters in Christ! We shared stories, both good and bad, prayed for and with one another and blessed each other with encouragement beyond measure! My cup truly overflows!

And TOPICS! Wow! There was such a wide range of topics that at first I wasn't sure where I wanted to start! Did I want parenting encouragement? Curriculum Guidance? Character Education and Leadership Direction for my Child? Stuff that was beyond my kiddo in age but would apply to my older niece? Help for my husband to be a leader in our home? My options were just endless! Thankfully they are all downloadable! Can you imagine going to a convention with only yourself and possibly your husband and trying to catch EVERY session you wanted to hear, some of them overlapping in times? I'm exhausted just thinking about it! As I said before I have been greatly blessed by this expo.

And you could be too! If you are interested, homeschool parent or not, in some really helpful and encouraging sessions on raising children in God's image while setting your own godly example I urge you to not just take my word for it... go check it out yourself! The membership site is still available and I promise you will not be disappointed!

Here's the link, go take a look!

https://www.secureinfossl.com/affProgram/Ultimate-Homeschool-Expo-2011/52019

The Battle Is The Lord's

Today I listened to my first preview speaker for the Ultimate Homeschool Expo and WOW! She was amazing!! Her name was Lorrie Flem of Eternal Encouragement Magazine http://www.eternalencouragement.com/ and it was such a blessing!! She opened in prayer and used scripture like a mad woman!! And she really convicted me about feeling like my "little" job as mommy and homemaker wasn't enough!! I was blown away!!! I encourage you to take a look at her site but I also encourage you to grab your ticket for the Expo! even if you aren't a homeschooling parent, these speakers will encourage you as a parent in general. There's another FREE session today so log on and listen!! I'll be there too!! Here's the link to the site to listen for free:
http://www.ultimatehomeschoolexpo.com/?p=203

and here's the link to the site to buy your ticket if you decide to:
https://www.secureinfossl.com/affProgram/Ultimate-Homeschool-Expo-2011/52019

Hope you enjoy it!!!
Candie

An Opportunity You Won't Want To Miss!!

As most of you know, this will be my second year homeschooling Braydon. Randy and I had hoped to attend a convention this year for some direction (haha) and to see what some of the vendors had to offer as well as have the opportunity to hear/talk to speakers who have been in the homeschool community for several years. But as with most things lately, the money just was not there and we can't afford to travel to a large convention this year. Of course, as usual, we failed to rely on the fact that God had already worked things out for us before we even knew we needed Him to. FIVE YEARS before we needed Him to actually!!!
That's how long ago some amazing people began the Ultimate Homeschool Expo. Now I'm sure they didn't start it is JUST for Randy and I, but it's really comforting to know that they DID and that it is exactly what we were looking for!! I am going to be able to listen to and chat with some terrific people in the comfort of my own home and even in my jammies if I so choose!! They are offering TONS of door prizes and give aways and will even have a vendor hall. Not to mention all audio will be recorded in case you miss a show!
I know some of the things we as homeschool moms stumble upon on the web can be a little "iffy" but let me assure you, this is something you won't want to miss! My cousin, Cyndi Kinney, who writes homeschool material is a speaker, and the owner of the Expo is her publisher and let me tell you these ladies are phenomenal!! I don't know how I would have EVER gotten things off the ground for myself and Braydon last year without Cyndi's wisdom and encouragement, and the wonderfully encouraging emails I get from Felice (just as a subscriber) are terrific! Plus, Cyndi speaks so highly of her I feel like I know her myself! I also subscribe to EVERYTHING Cindy Rushton does (another speaker and former owner of the Expo) and she is such a down to earth, all on the table Godly woman that I can't wait to hear what she has in store for us this year!!
I encourage you to just stop by the site and take a look. The ticket price is so inexpensive that you almost can't say no. But go look around, google some of the speakers, I promise you won't be disappointed!
Here's a link... Enjoy!
https://www.secureinfossl.com/affProgram/Ultimate-Homeschool-Expo-2011/52019

That's My Boy!!

For those of you who have read this blog in the past, you are aware that from time to time my kid get words mixed up, jumbled up or just flats makes them up to fit his needs. Well here are a couple or stories you are going to love!!
Story number one: We have ripped up most of the carpet throughout our home due to Braydon's allergies, but in our living room we have an average size area rug that catches the random airsoft pellet, blade of grass or lego that you can't see until you have two little circles tattooed on the bottom of your foot. Well the other night Braydon was walking across the living room and winced in pain. As he bent down to pick-up what had stabbed his foot he says "Darn hedgehogs!"
You may be thinking to you yourself... Hedgehogs??? In the rug??? Do we even HAVE hedgehogs in West Texas? Well my dear friends what he was actually referring to was a goat head! LOL Why he thought it was called a hedgehog I will never know. BUT, they will forever be called hedgehogs in our house!

Okay, story number two: My parents have recently decided to join the rest of the country and jump into the age of technology that we have all be in for some time now. They got rid of what I called their jitterbugs and both got iPhones. Well the other night we were in their living room and my dad and I were both texting on our phones. As you can imagine I was texting rather quickly and my dad was just creeping along. My husband chuckles a bit and comments how funny it is that I'm able to text so fast and my dad still has to "hunt and peck".
Well several days later I receive a LONG text from my dad and my husband I are joking about how long it probably took him to type it and from the back seat Braydon comments "Yeah, chicken and peck, chicken and peck." Randy and I about died. This kid is a riot!! If I could remember to write down HALF of the stuff he says, I'd be rich!!
Anyway, hope this brightened your day a little! :) It brightened mine just thinking about it all again as I typed it.

The praise of a lifetime!!!

"I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit." - John 3:5

Yesterday was an amazing day for me! I got to see my little boy accept Jesus into his heart and have his sins washed away in baptism. Making this day even more special was being able to see my daddy baptize him just as he had done for myself, my brother and my niece in years past.
As we stood before the entire congregation of Antioch Christian Church where I have attended since I was his age, my little boy told the church members and his peers in no uncertain terms that he wanted to be baptized to "Have his sins washed away, receive eternal salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit". Sound coached to you? Well if you know my Braydon you know it wasn't. He has studied his little baptism book, asked his daddy and I questions and looked through the Bible with me to find the answers for several weeks now. I was so proud to stand in front of other moms and dads and know that my little boy GOT IT!!
Don't get me wrong, I'm not being boastful at all! As parents we know how hard it is to get our children to listen to most, if any of what we say. With all of the "worldly" things that we encounter and sadly let creep into our daily lives, our faith is sometimes not the most discussed topic at the dinner table. It's often a little easier when they're smaller because we can point Jesus out in the most simple activities and things around us. But as they grow they begin to lose interest really quick in the stuff that worked before like "Thank God for the flowers and the sky and the air we breathe and the rain that helps the plants grow for food..."
These days I find myself in the car with my now 9yr. old little boy replacing those comments with silent prayers asking for teaching opportunities and new ways to relate to him with out being a mushy mom! The truth is I'm not good at the mushy mom thing either so I'm kinda stuck!!! I stumble through everyday hanging on for the times when he hears a song on Air 1 and asks for and explanation or when he remarks about why I didn't react a certain way to someone elses ungodly behavior so I can use that time to explain why I am trying to lead by example and show God's love through my own behavior. So WOW, to stand beside him and listen to him speak so boldly for his Lord knowing all the while that I always feel like I'm just one moment away from total failure and losing my son to the proverbial "dark side" was a moment I will never forget as long as I live!!
I only hope that you moms out there barely hanging on like I am will take comfort in this little piece of my life and know that even though you may not feel like you are moving mountains, as long as you are praying for your child and doing everything you can to let him/her see God in your life I believe that Jesus will stand in the gap for you and lend a helping hand whether you see Him do it or not. Beside, it's not for US to move those mountains anyway!!! There's someone BIGGER for that.

Candie

Dropped Call...

Cell phones, our life lines to the world around us! Not many of us go through the day without making calls, texting, checking our emails, Facebooking, Tweeting or just surfing the web. But sometimes these handy little devices can be quite persnickety! They lose our calls and cut out at some of the most inopportune times it seems. It hilarious to listen to someone in a department store yelling our their spouse who's on the other end of the cell phone as if they're trying to talk to their 80 year old grandpa.

Well how many times have we used this lack dependability to our advantage? Come on, you know what I'm talking about!! You pretend your phone dropped a call. You ask the person on the other end of the line to repeat themselves so they think they are cutting out. Some of us have even gone so far as to mimic, in our own words, the previously mentioned "cutting out" process.

Well let me share a little story with you. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of meeting my precious gift from God, you about to get a glimpse of the true Braydon. And for those of you who already know him, this will just be par for the course.

The other night I was asking Braydon to do something, the task is something I can't even recall now. And I hear this ridiculous crackling noise coming from the hallway followed by a muffled voice that said "What? I think you're breaking up! I must being going through a tunnel or be in an elevator."

YEP! There you have it ladies and gentlemen! My child just took the quirky cell phone issues out of the cell phone and applied them to his own needs!!! Now that's out of the box thinking my friends!!! He is indeed a shining star!! Watch out America, either we'll be able to mold this brilliance into something amazing over the next few years or he'll be the next Jack Black!!! Either way I'm planning to be well taken care of in my old age!!!