Courageous

  

Our church is showing the movie “Courageous” next Sunday night, January 29,  at 6:00 p.m. We will be serving sandwiches, chips, and drinks at 5:00 p.m. There is no charge. Derek and I have been very excited about this for several weeks now. We saw the movie in theatres and it is a movie that changed our lives. I know it will change the lives of anyone who sees it.

Here is my opinion of the movie for what it’s worth. I have been asked several times if “Courageous” is a movie that women would enjoy and the answer to that is ABSOLUTELY. It changed the way I parent Deacon and made me more aware of what the bible says about child rearing. It also helped me realize things I could do to support Derek in his role as man of our home. It’s a tough job that I’m glad I don’t have but I can definitely pray for him and give him the support he needs. Lastly, the most important job I will have on this earth is to raise Deacon to be a “Man of Courage.” I’m not going to lie that seems like an overwhelmingly daunting task that has been given to us. This precious little boy who loves to shout “NO” and “MINE” will someday be in charge of a family of his own. It will be his responsibility to lead his family through the trials and tribulations of life. He will have the task of teaching his children about God all while loving their mother and providing for their needs. I can tell you it won’t be easy which is why we need to do everything we can now to prepare him for this role.  

The song “Courageous” is hands down my favorite song right now. I love to hear the guys and Kristi practice it at church and I know you will be blessed if you join us on the 29th so you can hear it too. This movie has the chance to change your life. It doesn’t matter what your religious affiliation is-this movie is for everyone. It would be our honor to have you join us at Calvert City United Methodist for this film. You will be so glad you did!

 

Seek justice

Love mercy

Walk humbly with your God

 

We're still here

I have been busy transitioning to my new job and juggling work and Deacon so I haven't had much time to blog but I hope to change that! I have a blogging app on my iPad so I hope that will make blogging easier. I could never catch up on all that I've missed so I will just start fresh!

 

This is a funny picture of Deacon from photo booth! I will be back with more soon!

Still Here

Deacon and I are still doing TOT School. I didn't know what our theme should be after we were done with dogs. Derek thought it should be a fruit so we had settled on oranges...random I know. Then on the Sunday night before we were going to introduce orange on Wednesday-Derek took Deacon outside with him to set the trash out and pointed up to the moon and said moon...which Deacon repeated again and again. So we changed themes! I made him 4 moons on the cricut since the moon was created on the 4th day. We read Goodnight Moon and went outside and pointed at the moon every night. As the moon changed Deacon started calling it a ball but now he knows it's the moon. He also has a turtle that projects stars on the ceiling and we turn it on as he goes to bed and he shows us the moon. I love having a theme we focus on for a couple of weeks because I feel it helps expand his language and knowledge. We are now going to move on to a Halloween theme for the month of October. I would love for him to learn the word Pumpkin.

As many of you know God has led our lives down a new path. I have accepted a position with the Marshall County Board of Education. It will be different in that I will work 5 days a week but I will be home with Deacon in bigger chunks of time several times throughout the year. It is a decision that we prayed over for several months. We knew that if a school position opened I needed to apply but we didn't expect one to open up this year. God had other plans and we are excited to start this new journey.

For the past 3 years I've been blessed to work with an amazing team. They were there through some tough times in my life and celebrated the anticipation and birth of Deacon with me. For girls and now guys with such varied ages and interests we bonded together and got along like a family. I will forever be grateful for the therapy team at Bradford Heights. They supported me my first 3 years as a Speech Pathologist and were happy for me when I made the decision to leave. Though I won't see them as often I will for sure keep in touch. I've worked with a unique population the last several years. My patients have been much older than me and I've admired and respected each one I've had the privilege to treat. They have all left a lasting impression on my heart. They've made me a more faithful, compassionate, caring, sensitive person and that is truly a blessing.

Derek and I decided before having Deacon that we would do whatever it took to ensure his best interest was always put first. We are both the type of people who put our whole hearts into anything we do and child rearing is no different. We struggled with knowing whether or not it would be in Deacon's best interest for me to work the school schedule or to work 3 days a week until he got in school. We knew hands down I needed to be in the schools before he got there. We decided to let go of that decision and let God and he provided all the answers and things just fell into place. We would appreciate your prayers as our family embarks on this new and exciting journey. I love love love kids...not just my own but all kids as if they were my own. I hope God uses me as an instrument in these sweet children's lives.

Tot School

I'm finally starting something new with Deacon that I've been thinking about for awhile. It's what alot of moms call tot school which is exactly what the name suggests-school for tots. Alot of these moms home school their older children and so they plan structured themes and activities for their younger children. The blog where I got most of my information from is http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/totschool.html. She has lots of theme ideas and printables I will be using in the future. We are blessed that Deacon is with my mom, Derek or I at all times. No matter who he is with he gets one on one attention which is invaluable to us and exactly what we wanted. It has more advantages than I can even begin to mention. However, Deacon rules the show. He decides what he is going to do and when he is going to do it and we just follow his lead. That's why I think it is so important to do some structured activites with him each day. We will all be working on the same concepts following a basic theme that will change every two weeks. I hope to document it all here. After Christmas we will advance to letters and numbers and that will be the basis of our themes.

I'm going to introduce the themes to Deacon on Wednesday mornings. When he wakes up in the morning he will find his special bucket in the floor. We are then going to go to the library and pick out some books related to our theme. I'm not going to force him to play with the items in the bucket but they will be available to him throughout the day and I know he will take an interest in them.

The first theme is dogs. Deacon loves dogs thanks to Maddy and he can already say the word and make the sound. This made it an obvious first choice as he already has an interest in it. The activities below are a starting point and I hope to add one or two more dog activities throughout the next two weeks.

This is the bucket I'm going to use for his theme activities. His Aunt Jill made it for him for his birthday.


These are some of his dog toys. Most of these he hasn't seen or played with in the last couple of months. These theme activities will also help me rotate his toys as he typically plays with the same ones over and over.


I found these silly bands at Hobby Lobby in the clearance aisle. Deacon loves jewelry so I know he will enjoy putting them on and taking them off. They are in the shape of dogs and he will always be under close supervision when playing with them.

This is a book we got while I was pregnant and it tells the story of a K-9 dog and officer. This will help bring in Derek's job to the theme.

This is a basic little book I made him.

It is filled with stickers that are different textures which he will enjoy feeling of.

I put these dogs on sticks for him to play with.

These are his big and little folders. The glue isn't dry but it will dry clear. Deacon can say so big and we often contrast that he is so big and Maddy is so little so I thought that would be a good learning activity to work towards. I don't expect him to be able to sort them and understand what big means and what little means but he usually does a good job putting things back in the place they go and it will be good early exposure regardless.

The big folder with big bones and big dogs.

The little folder with little dogs and little bones.

His bucket of goodies which I'm about to sneak in and place on his bedroom floor.

I think it's important that Deacon has some type of learning activity each day because if he were at a daycare he would be getting that for sure. I know that he may not fully understand the concepts we are working towards this week but he usually surprises me with how quickly he picks new things up. When he is a little older we will add in themed lunches which I can't wait for!

If you are an avid blog reader as myself or a pinterest addict which I'm also guilty of then you have seen these ideas I'm sure. These moms are having great success so I hope we do too. I couldn't have done any of these activities without my cricut. This project cost less than $7. Stay tuned for more themes in the coming weeks...

Deaconisms

• Yes that is sand you see all over his face. He loves his new sand and water table and like to dump sand all over his face.


• We played with water balloons the other night and had the best time-Thanks Aunt Tay


• His vocabulary is really picking up and he never shuts up...we just can't yet understand most of what he says


• We haven't introduced many new signs now that his vocabulary is expanding but he did learn "stop" He loves tellling "Ma!" (Maddy) to stop


• I'm really encouraging independent play a little bit each day. It's a skill I was worried he was going to miss since we try and interact with him every waking moment. Independent play is an important part of development so I knew we needed to work on this. I love just sitting in his room and watching him pull every book off the shelf and look through them without me trying to teach colors, animal sounds, etc.


• He loves to pretend to talk on the phone. He calls dad most often especially when he's at work


• Maddy and Deacon are the best of friends and he gets so excited when she gets up in the morning.


• He loves to pretend cook while I'm cooking. He loves to stir ice and make a huge mess.


• He is feeding himself most anything but making a HUGE mess! I love watching his fine motor skills develop. I've gotten him some adaptive equipment to help build these skills....can you tell I work with OT's


• He will pick up most anything such as hair gel, hairbrush, toothbrush and mimic its intended purpose


• My absolute favorite thing he has learned to do is clasp his hands together in prayer. He is a sponge and picks up on most things quickly. We have tried so hard to instill our Christian values in him since day 1 and to finally see it in him warmed our hearts. When we ask him to pray he folds his hands together very quickly but ever so sweetly. He doesn't keep them folded during the entire prayer but he definately knows we are praying. He has even done it in church a couple times right on cue.