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!

recent photos

For those who have been asking to see updated pictures...here you go. These were taken at Bur Mills Park in the city of Greensboro. We have been attending a church that meets there at the community center and spend time at the park after the meal together. It is a really pretty place and full of geographical history. There is no need to post pictures of Ildi or me because we still look the same as several years ago. If you forget what we look like, just pull out an old picture, put a few pounds on, grey the hair only slightly, and there we are!

in addition

I went on the dashboard and read a post that Blogger was having a problem with video uploading. Whew! I am not crazy.

AS well, the last few mornings it has been around 32-37 degrees in the morning when I leave for school. Wow, I didn't think it was going to be cold until December or January. For those friends who live in Ohio...don't poke fun at us, we did JUST move from California three months ago. It's going to take a little while for our skin to thicken up. Ildi bought me a pair or fleece-lined jeans. They are great to wear. And Friday, I wore long underwear under my pants to school. I was warm all day. Secretly I am enjoying the colder weather. shhhhhh....

without too much of a history lesson...

For those who have never heard of being "plain", it's sort of the cross between Amish and Mennonite in dress, without the all of the religious affiliation, even though much of the doctrinal beliefs are the same. From what I understand, which is quite limited mind you, is that the Anabaptist were a group of people that remained outside the mainstream of the Reformation. (middle 1500's) They were labeled the lunatic fringe. The label Anabaptist applies to the movements today known as the Amish and Mennonite communities. We have met several families who embrace the plain movement and have become friends. The Farmer's Market we attend in Greensboro has a couple of families that dress plain.

Last weekend we visited a Plain church. Some of the people we buy goods from at the market invited us to a special service they were having. It was a great day and a wonderful experience for us and the children. Since it was an hour and one-half away, we woke early to get there on time for worship. Worship is the whole service including the meal afterwards. Almost all the people where dressed plainly. It made the way we dress look like a fashion statement. The men sat on one side of the meeting hall, the women on the other. Boys with dad's, girls with mom's. After the (a capello?) singing time, a man from Massachusetts preached. When the service part of the meeting was over, we all sat down to a meal together.

After worship we were invited to go to our friend's house to stay for the afternoon. The children were allowed to help with the chores. The chores...milking the goats! They loved it.

The family we visited is renting the farm now until this winter. The beginning of the year, several families will go in together to purchase the land for personal and church purposes. Right now they are only paying $700 monthly for a house and 150 acres to farm on. Sort of makes you want to move to North Carolina huh? This plot of land is on the border of NC and Virginia right along the Dann River.

i quit...

Today I wanted to quit my job. I thought it would be funny to leave this post to just that sentence.

Two children got into a huge fist fight in my class, and after it was done, the Vice Principal came in to talk to me about it. (taking up my entire lunch period mind you)He asked me questions about what I could have done differently so as to have not let the situation escalate into the fight. It happened so quickly that the only thing I was able to do was to separate them. He kept pressing the issue that I could have done more and I finally broke. I gave him my usual "garth" analogies and it didn't satisfy him. So, I just asked him want he wanted me to do. He was wanting me to own up to the fact that if I had been paying closer attention to the situation, if I had de-escalate the problem, if I had ... He even asked me if I agreed with the direction the school was going. All to say that I didn't give him the right answers. So, I felt like saying "thank you for all your input, and you may now find another teacher to not only deal with the students that attend this school, but also the way that you support them when students are not doing what they should be doing". I didn't quit. But I wanted too. I actually told another teacher after school that I wanted to move back to California. It was just my wanting to go back to something familiar.

continued...

So we came down here and did the whole "find a house thing" and got settled a bit. After a few months Ildi and I (mostly Ildi) were talking about moving up to Ohio. I didn't mind after I had made the move here, after all, once you move across the country it's easy to move eight hours away.

While here, I emailed my old art teacher from junior high. I had visited him several years ago when we went to Ohio and since I (again Ildi) was thinking of maybe moving there I let him know I was possibly going to move back in the area and wanted to know how he was doing. (Really I wanted to know if he was nearing retirement time...crazy me!)

Meanwhile, back at the rental,the new friends we made in Ohio emailed and called me to let us know that there was a farm that was only seven miles from them that was going on auction the 23th of October. Low and behold, we decided to to go to the auction and make it a visit at the same time. We were set to leave early Saturday morning the 20th to Ohio. On Friday night after schol, I came home and checked my email as usual. My previous art teacher had emailed and mentioned that he was RETIRING! I about flipped! So, our trip up there was filled with hope.

Long story short, we didn't end up buying the auction house, but it will come up on the HUD market in a few months. We did peruse several other homes/farms and now have over eight under our belt. We a few more looks away from finding the place.

There were some other crazy/exciting details I left out so as to not get too detailed with this post. Maybe I will weave them in on some other ones.

interesting experiences

To begin with, last Tuesday we arrived back home after a weekend visit to Northwestern Ohio. In all, we were there for four days. I first need to tell you what spurred the visit in the first place and also some interesting experiences we have had prior to, and after our trip there.

Last summer, on our trip across the nation, we stopped in to visit some friends and family in Northwest Ohio; the place I spent the first 18 years of my life. We had decided to vist since it was only an eight hour drive south to get to our new city here in NC. While there, we stayed with friends that we have known for a few years and they introduced us to a family who are living a sustainable life. Meaning they make a living off of farming and eat from the garden. The family is a "plain" family and we ended up having dinner with them on a Sunday afternoon. Our families really had a lot in common so we felt comfortable sharing our family vision and direction and received and gave a whole bunch of encouragement. I think for two reasons. They are already living the way we want to start living, and they had some people (us), visit them and validate what they were doing. It was a reall good connecting time...

a time of reflection

On the way to worship, (our new term for church) Ildi and I were having a converstion AGAIN! :) about where we wanted to live. NC, TN, OH,... We were reminded that God had given us a plenty choices in our lives so far, and it seems this question of where to buy a farm is another one of those "choice" factors. It has been a huge responsibility to decide where to live and to narrow potential living situations. We are not taking this decision lightly.
For so many years in our early married life we lived circumstantially. Living paycheck to paycheck and not faced with the questions we are faced with now. Our choices back then, in comparison, seem quite easy to the ones we a working through now. For those of you who know us and have heard us harp on the strings of family mission, vision, and direction, we have been going back over those same things on a regular basis. It seemed like it was going to be clear once we got here, and our decision to buy a farm was already decided before we left California. However, it has opened our minds and hearts up to more questions about where we are going and what we want to spend out lives doing.
In our reflection we were reminded that we bought our first house in 2000. In September. It was today that we realized that we got into house debt seven years ago and that now (seven years later) we are at the point were we are a few days, or months, away from buying a piece of land with a house, COMPLETELY debt free. That means, no loan, no mortgage, no payments. What a testimony to God and an example of His goodness in our lives. What a way for Him to bring Glory to Himself. It is truly by His grace that we have arrived at this point in our lives.

back in time...

Today we stepped back in time and visited the Old Salem Fall Harvest Festival. We filled the afternoon with watching churning butter, weaving baskets, decorating pumpkins, and making corn husk dolls. The Festival is a one day event that attracts visitors from around the state, nation, and world.

The sisters who were helping the children make were surprised when they started making accessories for their dolls. Seems juxtaposed. Corn husk dolls with accessories. :) This activity only inspired them more to get creative at home! Oh no..........