The Clouds are Breaking Just a Little

Sometimes the pretty flowers need to die along with the weeds, too, just for a while, until they come up strong in the spring again...
Elizabeth Elliot

Happy 10th birthday Cyrus!

Happy Birthday Cyrus!!!


It is hard to believe Cyrus has been here in our family for one year and 8 months!
Here was our first look at Cyrus, Ekie, and Grace a little over two years ago. Cryus has grown so much!



On to Cyrus's Birthday Celebration!!!

Cooking Challenge 101

We are down to one small burner on our stove.It has been a few weeks and I am getting pretty creative with cooking.Have you ever tried getting enough water boiling to cook 3 pounds of noodles on a small burner?It doesn't really work but I figured out if I start with real hot tap water and let the noodles kind of sit in the hot water while the burner heats as best as it can the noodles eventually soften up.I figured out that I can heat up a lot of our meal in crock pots as well.Good thing we have 4 crock pots!Maybe we should invest in a microwave.It would be cheaper than buying a new stove.No,I kind of like the challenge of my one burner stove.

Video of the Week (a little late)

Scrub-a-dub-dub...Lily in the tub...sink

Update

I have been selling a lot of my school books on EBay.It is nice to get them out of the house.I am a little sad that I have not been able to sell them for much money,though.It seems that most people are looking for real cheap or free things.Makes sence.I wish I was that smart when I was school shopping in the past!Anyway,just knowing that they are being used and not just sitting on my book shelves is nice.

Lily taking a bath!

A parent can NEVER have too many pictures of baby taking a bath in the kitchen sink!

I love my big Sister!

This is a rare sight...Joel and Anya together. They both have pretty feisty personalities and usually do not get along as well as I would like...I'm glad I have a picture of this!

Just A Few Passing Thoughts...

I have not put anything new on my Etsy shop yet.I have a few cloth Christmas books and a few hand bags that I might eventually list.I have not sold anything but the competition is pretty stiff and there are so many beautiful creative things that other people make.There are some extremely talented people.



I did make about 400$ selling my used school books on Ebay this past month.Hurray!My plan was to start paying off a little of our adoption debt so we could get debt free faster.It will take a lot of selling to do that ,though.I will sell anything not nailed down if it will help.

Jeff starts a second job on Friday after work.He is going to deliver pizzas for Green Mill up in Eagan a few nights a week.We had not anticipated feeling such a crunch financially as our family grew.Everything is costing more.Food,water,electricity,schooling,heat.I am getting very worried.It is nice Jeff sees the need for a second job to get us debt free.I think it will be hard for a while with him gone more but it will only be for a little bit.Hmm...things did not work out the way we would have expected financially.I do not mind being poor but I do not like the feel of all this adoption debt hanging over us.Anyway,there are still a ,lot of things I can do,too.It will eventually work out.

For Happyasamom

This post is a little explanation for happyasamom about how I used my Veritas Press Ancient Egypt books.Feel free everyone else to read,too.

I'm still planning on starting my September Free quilt giveaway drawing Sept 8th so don't forget.Come back and enter.I will give a hint and say it will be a baby girl quilt since I did two boyish quilts in a row.


Happyasamom ,I tried to explain in with words but being a more visual person I thought maybe including pictures would make it easier for you.I hope it helps!


Here are the manuals I used.I purchased them in 2005 for my 2005/06 school year.My copy of Genesis through Joshua is a first addition 2001.My Old Testament & Ancient Egypt is a second addition dated 2004.Veritas Press has this as a second grade curriculum but I used it as a multi level class for my k up to 5th grade children.

I know that the Veritas Press teacher's manuals are NOT as specific and planned as Abeka or Bob Jone's teacher's manuals are.I would describe Veritas Press manuals as more guides.They leave a lot of room to personalize things.The class can be formal or more relaxed depending on how the parent plans things.

Since I was incorporating about 5 children in this class I first made each child a packet that included a copy of the front of the card ,a copy of the back of the card,the question sheets from the manual,the test from the manual and any project sheets that they would need for the week.(I also included spelling ,a weekly to do list and any other school related stuff, but that really does not relate to Veritas Press) I bundled each child's packet in a three prong notebook and it consisted of nine weeks.After nine weeks they had a new 9 week bundle waiting.

I would mostly read the required reading as a group and we would talk over the questions.The kids who could read and write would write the answers down and could follow along as I read.(The picture below is an example of our little packets.It is a part of our Ancient Rome & Greek year)

At the time I purchased my Egypt Veritas Press the catalog ranked their books by using different title colors of the books from the "must haves" (meaning the ones listed on the back of the cards that are needed ) down to supplements but not necessarily needed.I found when I was teaching Veritas Press just following the recomended books listed on the back of the cards was a little dull for the kids so I invested in the supplement books.The supplement books brought things alive for them.Unfortunately,the Veritas Press manuals did not specifically direct me as to how to incorporate the supplement books.What I did was match the supplement books to the card we were going through that week.So for instance ,if we were learning about the Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt I would look at the questions in the teacher's manual and use that as guide.I would have the kids find pictures of the first Pharaoh or the double crown or information on the flooding of the Nile in the supplement books.Sadly ,I did not keep a list of what books we looked at when.


Here is our timeline that Incorporated the Bible cards and history cards.I found that the cards kept falling off the wall so I copied them and did it this instead.


Here is what really made things fun for the kids.They would take the card copies from their packets and other things they found in the supplement books ( the would photo copy from the supplement books) and scrap book them into a chronological scrapbook for the year.

I know this might not help much as far as a specific guideline as how I Incorporated all my books but those extra books really made a difference in bringing things alive for the kids.There are a few books maybe like The Rosetta Stone or Walking The Bible that were more helpful for me and gave me a little more background.

I would recommend the the Veritas Press Chronological songs (although maybe a little silly for some).They are very neat.

I really LOVE Veritas Press.The reason why we are not continuing on to The Middle Ages and Chronicles through Malachi is because our family expanded and most of my time the next year or so is going to be spent getting a bunch of my non readers reading and just catching up with their grade level on the basics like math and English.I have much less time to teach more children.Maybe in a few years...

Happy 7th Birthday Ekie!!!

We love you!!!

I'm Smiling Pretty!

Winda if you are out there,this message is for you!I finally went to the dentist!I know we are both dentist fans ( by reading your blog) so I thought you would appreciate that I made it through OK.No need for wooden teeth quite yet.I thought of you while I was there.I was thinking that if dentist offices were this fancy when we were little there would be no fears!There is even a TV on the ceiling of each room to keep fearful minds off the horrible scraping noise!Did you make it to the dentist yet?

Now,as I was spending a lot of time on Barb's The Zoo blog last night watching her YouTube links I found myself somehow lead to Tim Conway clips.No show was funnier that The Carol Burnett show growing up.Anyway,I just thought this little video clip was so funny.

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

I am really pretty tired today.My body just seems to have a shut down time where I can not even move a muscle.

I decided to go through all of the clothing bins of clothes we received from people.What a huge mess!I am thinking that I have gone through 20 bins.Most of which were spoiled by animals or mold and dirt.I should have gone through them much sooner.I still have a few to go through.I think the four middle girls are set, Grace is set,Joel is set.Josh and Nolan are kind of set.The other kids will need clothes.Cyrus definitely as well as Joyce and Elena.

Today was a very hard day with Elena.I'm just exhausted!

I was wondering what it feels like to run some sort of marathon.It would be on my list of things to try.I have always admired runners and their focus and self discipline.I wish I was like that.Crazy but there seems to be more freedom in being self disciplined than there is in being unfocused and floundering.

My Video of the week

Here is a blast from the receint past.

Joel and Grace on the boat ride at the Waseca County Fair this past July.

It might look like it but...

OK.It might look like I'm blogging but I'm really not.I just wanted to pass on another Baker's Dozen idea. She just posted a recipe for Funnel Cakes.Look very tasty.Anyway,I do not know her but she is kind of my hero from afar!Our families have a lot in common.

Another very nice lady I recently met via the Internet is Sonya.Her blog Responding in Faith is very good.They are waiting for their 11Th child that they are adopting from Liberia!My other hero from afar!It is very nice to be connected even if it just through blog land with other families like ours.

I also found out that the man Tim Hawkins who did the Homeschooling Family YouTube video I posted the other day is a Christian comedian and has a lot of other very funny things on YouTube.Jeff and I spent a good amount of time Saturday night watching and laughing!

I'm Not Blogging But You Need To See This!

I had posted this on my Dragonfrye News blog and just needed to post it here as well.The video just cracks me up!

I just wanted to say Thank You to those who offered me such encouraging words!Much needed and appreciated.

What I decided to do is export my past blog posts to my other blog and continue to post to myself for a while and I figure I will eventually send it all back to this blog after I've licked my wounds for a while,that is.It works better that deleting everything like I did about 3 other times this past 12 months or so.The writer of A Baker's Dozen had her blog posts made into books.Very neat idea.It is motivating me to keep up with blogging only privately for now.I will say my very first private post was a bunch of complaining.Stuff you would not want to read anyway.Just a bunch of blah...

Now, I just wanted to give your large family homeschoolers like us a laugh.I was searching on the Internet for large family homeschooling schedule help and this YouTube video showed up.I have no idea if this is a real family or a spoof but I think it is very funny.

How's This For my First Private Post!

I switched most of my Dragonfrye News posts to this new more private blog which is VERY neat because now I do not have to lose all my posts but can still use the public blog for my quilt giveaway and eventually when I am feeling more secure switch this all back to my other blog.Right now,there is a feeling of freedom I have blogging to nobody really but myself.I was getting so caught up in how we appeared as a family.Well,maybe mostly how I appeared as a mom.Now I can boast or complain and it is completely OK!No worries of how I am representing God or homeshooling or the large family thing.

Anyway,here is today's scoop...Jeff left with Elena and Grant for Turtles in Rochester.It its the Jr. High E Free overnight event.The kids really do not do much with the Jr. High group at the church but this is a pretty exiting event because they get to go to Valley Fair tomorrow.It took a bit to get the money for it but the kids payed half and Jeff is going as a volunteer so the church is paying his way.Very nice.

The girls set up the tent yesterday in the yard to play house.Today Anya go her hair caught in the tent zipper but Cyrus rescued her.It was kind of funny.I have not heard of that happening before.Poor Anya looked a little frazzled.

I am haing a more difficult time understanding why God called us to adopt.In honesty I kind if wish we were back the way things were before when we just had our bio children.It is not that our Liberian children are difficult.I would say they are a little bit more mindful of me that some of our bio children.But it isn't the kids any of them that would make me wish for the old days.It is the amount of children that is hard.The loudness,mes,but mostly it is because there are too many for me to feel I can do a good job on much.everything I do has to be fast and quick because there is just so much to do.I feel like I can only do a semi ok job on anything.I'm ok until there is something I HAVE to get done.There is no room for HAVE TO'S .School is getting very difficult for me.I enjoy the kids being home and would chose for them to be but the schooling...I really hate it!I just do not know how to do it.

As long as I have the freedom to complain..I am very worried about money.I thought that if God was leading us to adopt he would also make sure things were taken care of.I do not mind living on the edge financially but we are beyond that now.We are so tight financially.We found out our mortgage is going up 15 dollars a month and our heat is going up 200$ (we do not have the extra 200 a month.We did not even have the 15 dollars extra for the mortgage! Our stove only has one working burner.We are running out of money for food.Gee,we will owe over $150 on AWANA fees come next month.We do not have $450 dollars to get our kids tested for school and are already a year behind on testing.We even do not have the $900 to pay the kid's court fees to officially adopt them.I am not asking God to give us a big huge sum of money just to take care of the things we need him to like we thought he would.I am thinking that he might not have wanted us to adopt and this is his judgement.It is all looking very scary.

Maybe Final Thoughts...?

The Picnic c.1881

Now that I found a home for my quilts I have been thinking of taking a little blogging break. When I first started Dragonfrye News last year ,it was created as a way to keep family and friends up to date with all the changes that had been going on here at the Frye house with the recent arrival of Cryus, Ekie and Grace.The blog then was very handy to keep people posted as we went through the adoption process of Joyce, Odell ,and Naomi.Of course, all those those cute ultrasound pictures of Lily needed a place to be shown as well!

I have been pondering lately if maybe my blog has outlived it purposes for now.The crazy changes in our home have all been made and now we are at a point were life is moving forward (most of the time anyway) and now after being a family of sixteen for 6 months,we are at a stage where deeper relationships are being forged between siblings as well as other adjustments that come along with major family changes.We do have our share of fun but we have run across some major bumps as well.I have been thinking that by posting the good things that go on in our family (which I have been doing )but leaving out the harder things really does not have the purpose I would want in my blog.I'm just not ready to write about the difficult parts yet.You have read some moaning and groaning about my days but that is only a tiny poor reflection of the hard days.

This has been something I have been pondering for a while now but as I was writing a friend the other day all these glowing things that God has been doing in our family with this 'oh, look at us,aren't we just so great' kind of attitude,it hit me that I'm really not feeling all that great.Don't get me wrong,God did do some tremendous things,but I feel I am in a constant state of treading water.I'm a tad exhausted,a little disillusioned about my christian walk with God.I have been for a while but have not said much about it.I long for the vision we once had for our family and my life.I realised that I have been spending most of my energy trying to force people to see me/us as something special out of my insecurity.Running around putting fruit on my own vine instead of resting and trusting in God to do it himself in his own time.Sadly, my blog has become a sort of false reality of my life.So,I'm thinking of taking a blogging break.I'm not sure how long,maybe just a month,but long enough to get a little more perspective on things.

I will keep my blog open because I am still going to post my free quilt giveaway on Monday, September 8th.So come back during that week.

Have a good August!!!

With warmest regards,

Tina

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

As most everyone who reads my blog knows I love to sew.It is kind of my relaxing time when I am not being 'the wife or mom'.I enjoy the planning, the buying (especially the buying),the process of making quilts and other new sewing ideas, and love seeing the end results.

Most of you also know that I have a abundance of quilts that I have already made. I started making extra quilts as a sort of fundraiser last fall to help with our adoption costs and just continued to make them even after our adoption was completed.I really never intended to sell quilts on line but I was not sure what to do with all my quilts so I opened up my little Dragonfrye Quilt Shop.

I have been looking around I thought maybe our church or another would have an use them but could not find the right connections.I am exited that I actually found a place to donate my quilts. Hurray! It is called Project Linus .



I am pretty exited.What this means is I will be taking my quilts off of Dragonfrye Quilts and closing up shop.It is kind of a relief because I really did not have my whole heart in it as you could tell be the state of 'under construction' that most of the pages were in.

Of course, I will still be making quilts and absolutely LOVE doing my free quilt drawing giveaway each month so that will not change.If I have to I will just blindly pick names from the phone book and enter them just to have my drawing each month!So no stopping that.

Anyway ,here is a link to The Beacon which is the Project Linus News letter.The news letter explains what Project Linus is about.It is real neat to read.