circumstances...

After 8 months or so from arriving in Los Angles, God called me to follow him. I had never previously been invited to accept the Lord, However on a couple of occasions, people shared the message that God loved me. Crazy, but I already knew that without having to hear someone tell me. During that time, I was working in a gym training people how to develop an exercise program tailored to meet their fitness goals. Having been a high school and college athlete, I was extremely interested in fitness, and it was nice to get paid to tell people how to get in shape. It was at this fitness center that I met Ildi. She was a young 19 year old know-it-all atheist who revelled in crushing immature Christians who had sketchy Theological arguments. We became friends, and after several months, she accepted the Lord. That circumstance could be a whole series of posts that I will spare until another time. Time passed (about 4 years) and I finally asked her to be my wife. Our engagement was short, and we were suddenly a married couple. We planned on waiting to have children for the usual socially accepted time frame, but quickly realized that one of the reasons we married was to have children. So we started. And then really (almost) never stopped. :)

construction...

The children have finished the house from the scraps of wood. I actually had to stop them from adding more details to it knowing that it will have to be taken down soon. The builders are on the last legs of the house and the roll-away dumpster will be leaving. I certainly don't want to try to cut the wood up to fit in the trash can!


The contracting supervisor for the housing project left this sticker on the building one afternoon. When I first saw it, I thought the children put it on. Apparently, he thought is was built well :)

different scene...

On an earlier post, I shot a picture of the back of the property that we are renting. Here it is again, this time with snow. This marks the first time that we have lived somewhere where it snows. For those that have lived with the weather factor this might not seem all too important or exciting. But for us, we have never lived in it. We had visited it once on a trip to Oregon but have never had it part of our lives at home. It's a good thing that we bought winter coats this past Christmas for the family.

interlude...

On a recent post, at The Deliberate Agrarian, Herrick writes about family traditions. What a GREAT topic to cover! Ildi and I have spent time thinking about and implementing many family traditions with our children. Please visit his site and read the comments section to view the traditions we have established in our family. As well, read his post and be inspired to create some memorable traditions for your family. One tradition that Ildi has started here is to make homemade donuts for the children. What a great activity for the children to do as well as a treat for them to have.

2008...cont...

And so I spent the days of my youth in the same town, and in the same house until I graduated from high school.

Ildi, on the other hand, grew up on the west coast. She actually lived in Pasadena most of her childhood with her Hungarian immigrated parents and grandparents. They came to the US during the Hungarian Revolution back in '56. It is fun to talk with her mom about the old days. I never met her father. He was killed in an unfortunate car accident when she was 16. When I met her, she was 19, and living in Chino, CA, which is just outside Los Angeles county. She had graduated from high school one year early and was working and attending college. She was a devout atheist at that point.

After I finished High school I attended Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky. I finished a B.A. degree in Art and right after graduation, flew to Los Angeles to make my mark on the world. First time flying, first time in a big city, first time living in an apartment, first time.....get the pattern here?

2008...

I was thinking about the whole 2000 scare the other day (now that it is 8 years after) and how everyone was skeptical to what would happen when the bell dropped, the clock changed, and 2000 came rolling in. It was pretty dull when nothing big happened. Not that a new year is not a big deal in all, but nothing earth shattering happened that night. Actually, I was reflecting on this year and was reminded of all the changes that have happened. Most of the changes we have had have been talked about already in previous posts. Some of the changes we are anticipating...like the FARM!

Today I gave some advice about blogging and to my surprise, I actually spoke more to myself than to the person I was talking to. I think that I will take my own advice and post the results of my conversation.

Chapter One (1)...just kidding :) It all started back in Northwest Ohio in the small town of Kenton, Ohio. I am the third child of four, and the middle of three boys. See if you can figure out the birth order. Hint: the last child is a boy. Kenton was, and is, a small rural town that is similar to most of the small towns in Ohio.

christmas...

What a pleasant Christmas time for us. I have been off work since the 20th (my birthday) and have done absolutely NOTHING but rest. Waking up around 9:00, taking a nap with Gresham, then laying down with him again around 7:00 for the night. What a life a child has huh? I wish those days of being told to take a nap, going to bed early, and have rest time during the day were part of the adult world. I wonder how that would change attitudes during the day?

We decided not to go to Ohio during the Christmas break. We haven't found a farm that has captured our attention enough to drive the 8 hours to get to it. Ildi is still diligently looking at property, and I have contacted an old high school friend to tell me about the areas we are looking at. We are starting to narrow down our search. It is exciting to be closer and closer to buying our place.

It's Friday night again, pizza night, and the girls have set the dough up for pizza tonight. We have been watching Wives and Daughters the last few nights and will finish up with the special features of the DVD tonight. Not having a television has been great so far. I have found a online TV video site that I am able to watch the 3rd season of Lost on; certainly not like watching a DVD or regular TV but it suffices. It is nice not to have the temptation to turn the TV on when there is nothing to do. So many times in the past, when there was nothing going on, it was easy just to turn the TV on and sit and watch for a few hours. Inevitably though, it usually consumed more time than what I would like to admit. I am thinking ahead to the Summer Olympics in Bejjing 2008. How am I going to get the coverage of the Olympics? The Summer Olympics are one of my favorite things to watch. I guess I could always borrow a TV for the eight weeks or so. I am wondering if Youtube or another video hosting site will air them?

It's rainy and cold now in NC. The temperature here should be making a shift toward colder weather in the next week or so. Hopefully we will have snow!

after 10 tears (i mean ten years!)

Last Sunday night, I sent the culminating work of the last ten years of my education. The Thesis Research Paper on multiple intelligence. I started the Master of Education in Cross-Cultural Teaching 10 years ago in 1998. Technically, you are supposed to finish the teaching part in five years or less, and the master part in two years or less, accounting for a total of seven years max. Whoops! I missed that one. I had to write an extension letter to the University and wait for their approval of extending the program for me. They did, and I just finished with it by sending the work. Now, I wait for a couple months to get the piece of paper I paid $29,000.00 dollars for! Yeah for me. (or not)

I have missed this type of writing...not having to cite all my sources. I was joking the other day with Ildi saying that I would write or say things like "according to Ildi, (2007) in her comment about our lives here in NC..." around the house. She didn't seem too amused by it.

We are now going to be actively involved in the "hunt" for the farm. Ildi has continued to research online about property and has built quite a base of knowledge on what is available. She could have written a Thesis on "property" and the pursuit of it with the amount of time she has spent researching. I am thankful that she has that "researching" gift. I don't. Hence the 10 tears (I mean years).

Christmas is quickly approaching, we are experiencing some colder weather, and school break time is this week. I really want it to snow here for the children to experience, but if it doesn't, we will probably travel up to Ohio for a short visit with family and friends.

Tradition, and traditional activities have not always been part of our lives. We have however, started a few over the years. One of them is that we have Crepes each Christmas morning for breakfast. It is the only time Ildi makes them so it makes it a special type of tradition. I am wanting to establish traditions more and more in our family's life. They have a sense of belonging and purpose to them.

Please post some of your family holiday traditions for me to see.

Asher said the other day that we should only get one Christmas present a piece this year. I asked why of course. He said, "If we get too many presents, we will just have to box them up when we move". He is a practical thinker :)

into the holiday season

For our readers, I hope your Thanksgiving celebration was filled with joy and peace. And that you had Thanksgiving dinner several times afterwards as well. I almost enjoy the left-over meals more the second and third time!

Our family spent the several days that I had off from work doing very little. The children continued to build their houses, and got involved with another craft activity (they are now making toy cars). Doesn't seem too out of sorts for them to be constantly involved in making something. :)

I am still continuing to plug away at some finishing work for school. The past two months I have taken online classes through National University, and have spent most of my time posting on discussion boards, reading books, and writing papers. This next month, December, will be my final class where I get to choose the topic I want to explore in education, and write a final paper on my research and observations as it pertains to the classroom. I am choosing the topic of multiple intelligences to research but haven't decided on what question of it that I want to address. I have a day or two to decide.

For the next week or so we will spend some time making Christmas cards. This personally is one of my favorite activities to do with the children. We have already decided on a design, and are thinking about the kind of message we want the card to say. I love involving the children and working with them on sending out holiday greetings. I did a small research on the Christmas card and it's origin. The first Commercial cards were commissioned by Sir Henry Cole in London around 1843, but the original Christmas card started three years earlier in 1840, when Queen Victoria's Royal Family sent cards out to share personal events of the year. It seems the purpose of the card has not changes that much over all these years. Ildi asked the question concerning why we send cards in the first place. Here are some of the reasons I send Christmas cards.

1. I like to make them.
2. I like to work on things with the children.
3. I want others to know that I am thinking about them during the holiday season time. (that really should be number one)
4. It is a way to bring cheer to others.

Each year the children and I look forward to making "this year's" card. I have been keeping one from each year for the last few years so that when the children are grown, they can take the ones we made while they were at home.

Side story...Macy has broken the family record for the most amount of teeth lost in a week, and a day. The record stands now at three per week, and two in one day. I pulled two of them out just a few hours ago. And she was brave!

i never thought this would happen

A few months ago I started this blog for a couple of reasons. My first intention was to create a site that would give friends and family a chance to see where we were going, and what we were doing, since we were moving so far away. Secondly, I wanted to get something up and running so that I could encourage Ildi to post and "speak" to the vast amounts of women that call for advice on mothering things. But, there now is a third reason, and why I am continuing to post. I never thought that I would enjoy writing the way that I do when posting. Sort of letter writing, sort of journal writing, sort of informative writing, and the list goes on. Years ago, and throughout my life, I have started, and stopped, many journals. There was something good in writing down what I was thinking. This place gives the format for writing what I think, and writing for an audience as well. Which brings me to the newest part of this whole process of getting involved with blogging.

For years I have heard that I should write a book. From friends it has been books about parenting. From teachers and colleagues it has been that I should write about classroom teaching. So, last week I started a new blog that deals with classroom issues. It is located here http://theartroomarchives.blogspot.com/ and will mostly deal with teaching practices that work. The posts might not be the most popular methodologies that are being taught in education classes, but they are tried and true methods that have worked, or are working in my classes still today. Please stop by and leave me a comment or two. If you don't agree with me on a post, I can handle the criticism!