Week in Review/Friday Favorites

Week In Review/Friday Favorites

We had a hot week this week! Some of my favorite moments were:

A library visit! Zeke is a bookworm and reads tons of books each week. We also turned in their reading logs for the summer reading program.

I took Silas and Titus to the orthopedic doctor to get their broken hand and broken arm checked out. Silas's hand is healing pretty good, and he was cleared to play football and ride bulls if he wears a brace. Titus's arm is healing perfectly! They took off his cast, let his wash his arm with soap and water, and then put a different cast on. It's still above his elbow, but not quite to his armpit. He goes back in two weeks to get the cast off for good!

Rod and I went to see Young Washington in our town's theatre. It was such a good movie, and it was nice to have a date-night for the first time in a while. The last movie we saw together in the theatre was Twisters. The Fiske Theatre is really nice! It's been in operation since 1928. Here is a little more information if you're interested: 

Other than that, we had a pretty slow week, thankfully! Here are a few pictures:

Zeke loves washing things off with the water hose, so he cleaned my rigs for me. 

I finished printing Zeke and Zoey’s first 26 lessons for Bible! That’s 4 pages for each lesson, but I did front and back printing. 

Zoey learned to write a “Z”!

I finished Genny Beth’s stocking, other than sewing on the back and adding her name.

Gendeling! Starting to really show!

Old Habits Die Hard?

I have been writing a weekly article in our newspaper: West Carroll Gazette. I thought it would be fun to share the short little articles here on the blog! This week's article is titled:

  Old Habits Die Hard?

I’m sure you have heard the phrase, “Old habits die hard.” Most of the time, people say this to excuse their bad behavior or explain why they can’t quit doing something.

It can be difficult to discard our old habits because they become like a second nature to us. Sometimes we can give them up for a while, but then we slowly drift back into that sin.

First Peter 1:14 and 15 warn us against this very thing: “So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.”

The first thing this verse tells us to do is to live as “God’s obedient children.” Obedience is an essential part of our salvation. In John 14:15, Jesus tells us, “If you love me, obey My commandments.” First Samuel 15:22 tells us that, “...obedience is better than sacrifice.” Living as God’s obedient children means casting aside all of our sin, even the sins we have lovingly nick-named our “bad habits.” 

Next, we are told not to slip back into our old ways of living. This is also known as “backsliding.” When someone is considered to be “backslidden,” it means they have fallen back into sin, returning to their old habits, after being saved. Backsliding happens gradually; it’s a slow drift. If you’ve ever floated on a river, you understand how this can happen. You don’t feel yourself moving, but when you look around, you realize how far you have drifted from your original spot! As Christians, we must continually examine ourselves lest we drift away without even realizing it. When we get complacent, we quit reading our Bibles as much, our prayer life becomes shorter, our tolerance for sin grows, and before we know it, we are back where we started - stuck in sin! 

The thing about drifting is, it’s easy to drift. It takes no effort. But when we have to paddle back, it takes work! We must push against the current, paddling hard, with the sole intention of getting back where we need to be.

Those old habits must be killed. Whether it’s gossiping, lying, stealing, sexual sin, or foul language, we must decide to lay down that sin and walk away from it. Let’s not excuse our sin or behavior, but allow God to transform us into new people. Every decision we make brings us closer to God or farther away from Him. Just like floating on the river, there is no standing still. We are either actively moving towards God or drifting away from Him. 

Now that we are saved, we “must be holy in everything” we do! I’ve heard people say, “Know better, do better,” and I think that applies to us as Christians. Luke 12:48 tells us that where much is given, much is required. Salvation is the greatest gift we have been given. We can never earn our salvation, but we can show our thankfulness to and love for God by living holy, obedient lives through the power of His Spirit.

Zoey's Preschool Curriculum Choices (2026/2027 School Year)

This will be Zoey's first (official) year of homeschooling! Although I did do toddler school with her, this last year her schooltime was hit or miss. She just wasn't into it, and I wasn't going to force it on her. It's funny how kids are so different. Zeke loved toddler school and preschool and couldn't get enough!

She will be four in September.

Let's Explore Preschool

This is a curriculum that I wrote and am excited to use it with Zoey. It's a letter of the week curriculum, with four different "Let's Explore" sections. It's available in my Etsy shop for $15.

"Let's Explore Letters" goes through one letter a week with four review weeks built in. She will have a mixture of hands-on activities, worksheets, and crafts for each letter.

"Let's Explore Math" uses the same - hands-on activities and worksheets - to teach and reinforce math concepts such as colors, shapes, numbers, and patterns.

She will also use this workbook as it is scheduled in each day for math, letters, tracing, matching, and other fine motor skills.

"Let's Explore Books" has several book titles and topics each week with crafts and activities for each.

"Let's Explore Science" uses two different spines - Science Play and the First Encyclopedia of Science - to introduce science topics, experiments, activities, and more! Science Play is more nature-based, so there will be lots of nature study and outdoor time.

Bible

She will be using the Beginner worksheets from Bible Study Guide for All Ages alongside Zeke's Intermediate worksheets. She will learn songs, Bible verses, and Bible stories. I'm waiting for the Bible Book Summary cards, Beginner Timeline, and the CD set with the songs to come in the mail! I'm very excited about adding this to our homeschool day

CO-OP

We joined a homeschool co-op this year, and Zoey will be joining four classes, two of which I will be teaching. She will do: Little Problem Solvers: Science, Playtime Pals, Little Problem Solvers: Math, and Storytime Fun. I'm teaching the Little Problem Solvers classes! 

Her total school time will be around 30-45 minutes a day, and maybe a little more when we have nature study. I am excited to start this journey with her!

What was your favorite preschool curriculum?

My Favorite Room in the House: Share Our Lives Link-Up

I have just gotten back into blogging, and this is my first ever Share Our Lives link-up post! This month, the topic is Favorite Room in Your House. 

We just moved into a new home - the parsonage to the church my husband is now full-time pastor at! We moved in April, so I'm still working on making it feel like home.

I love this beautiful home! When I asked myself which room would be my favorite, the dining room popped into my head. This is the room we gather in to eat meals and share conversation, where we will be doing our homeschooling in a few short weeks, where I work on my crafts and writing my newspaper articles, where I do my Bible study. I spend a good portion of each day in this room. 

I love the doors with big windows where I can watch the kids play in the fenced in backyard, watch the rain and summer thunderstorms, and see the sun rays shining through in the morning.

There are quite a few "signs of life" in this room. That's what I call normal family clutter! There is usually a deck of playing cards around, paper and markers from Zeke and Zoey, half-empty cups and water bottles, books laying face-down and open to mark a spot. 

Buzz Lightyear coaster among my pretty coasters

Definitely a sign of life!

I love this cabinet set that I got for my birthday last year which hides our homeschool books, resources, and extra supplies. I also love the painting above it that my great-grandmother (my Grammy) painted.

Lego Unicorn - another sign of life!

My "blue table" as I creatively call it holds my current crafting project as well as some seasonal decor and other tidbits that need a convenient home. The is another painting done by great-grandmother. My husband loves it because of the two deer!

I also love my "new" trinket shelf! This came from my father-in-law's house and I love it. The cow on the top left shelf is actually my great-grandmother's creamer! The pear on the bottom was my grandmother's. The hummingbird cross-stitch was a thrift find by my mother-in-law, and the little bluish green jar was a gift from one of my kids. It's full of arrowhead chips found by my boys! I need a few more items but I'm waiting until I find just the right things for the shelf.

I also love how the dining room and kitchen is so open. It's nice to cook while the kids are sitting at the bar talking to me.

I do love the other rooms in my house, and I may share pictures of those in the upcoming weeks. 

I would love to know which room in your home is your favorite!

Zeke's 2nd/3rd Grade Curriculum Choices (2026-2027 School Year)

Zeke is using a mix of second and third-grade curriculum for this coming school year. He is 7 years old, turning 8 in November.

MATH

We used Math With Confidence 2 last year, and we really loved it. Zeke did very well with the lessons and learned how to add and subtract three-digit numbers at the end of the year! We are continuing on with Math with Confidence 3 this year.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Zeke will be using Abeka Grammar 3 and Language Smarts Level D by The Critical Thinking Company. I have never found the perfect grammar curriculum, but Language Smarts is one of my favorite grammar workbooks. It encompasses parts of speech, literary devices, writing, spelling, phonics, poetry, and so much more! He will work one lesson in each book each day.

HANDWRITING

A Reason for Handwriting is one of my favorite handwriting programs, and Zeke will be using T for Transition, learning cursive. I love teaching my kids cursive! My kids always enjoyed the handwriting/coloring page they got to complete at the end of each week.

GEOGRAPHY

I asked my older kids what their favorite memory was of our homeschooling years, and all of them said it was the year we did a world geography curriculum - Expedition Earth (or Exploring Countries and Cultures for my older two). They had so many memories of the crafts we did, our passports, and the books we read. I wanted Zeke to have this same experience, so I wrote a curriculum for him! I call it "Around the World," not terribly creative but it works! We will be using two spines: The Children's Atlas of God's World and Biomes.

SCIENCE

I have a lifetime membership to School House Teachers, and there are so many great programs on their website! We will be using Exploring God's World with Third Grade Science. I printed out the first half of the year's curriculum (over 200 pages) and put it in a huge binder. I'll put each week's lessons in a folder for Zeke instead of lugging out a two-inch binder each day! After each week, I'll put the pages back in the binder and the next week's lesson in his folder. 

LITERATURE

Zeke will be completing five "literature kits" this year: Charlotte's Web; The Mouse and the Motorcycle; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; The Hundred Penny Box; and The Cricket in Times Square. He reads all the time, though!

BIBLE

The most important subject, in my opinion! We will be using Bible Study Guide for All Ages, the Intermediate Level. 

It suggests completing two lessons a week, but we will probably do three or four. I'll print a week's worth at a time, putting them in a folder like his science worksheets. 

HOMESCHOOL CO-OP

We have joined a homeschool co-op this year, and Zeke will be taking four classes each week: a Wild Kratts class, Torn Paper Art, Book Fun, and Legos! I think he will really enjoy all of these classes. I'm excited to start the co-op in September, and I hope to have a good start on our homeschool year by then. We are planning to begin the first or second week of August. 

Week in Review (and a few updates!)

We've had such a busy summer! I can hardly believe that it's almost the middle of July. It's been a (long) while since I've blogged, so I'm just going to pick up here!

Sunday, we celebrated the Fourth of July with a community gathering at the Caney Bottom Lodge. This was our third year going, and it was just as fun as the previous years. Maybe even more so since Zoey is a little older and actually played the entire time! They had a big waterslide for the older kids and a slip and slide for the younger kids. Zeke spent the entire time on the big waterslide while Zoey played with her "ballpark friend" on the slip and slide for over two hours! (Her ballpark friend is the little sister of one Zeke's teammates this year for baseball - they wound up playing together at almost every game!) We enjoyed good food and an excellent fireworks show! 

We've continued with our Wednesday night children and youth programs at church through the summer. Attendance for the children has been really low, as in just Zeke and Zoey most weeks. But our youth group has had around 10 or more each Wednesday! 

Speaking of updates, this is probably the biggest one: My husband is now the full-time pastor at our home church, Hill Baptist Church! He quit pipelining in October and started preaching as a fill-in pastor while we were looking for a pastor. In January, they asked him to be full-time, and he accepted. We moved into the parsonage in April, and it has been such a big blessing for us to be right next door to the church.

Thursday, I had to take Zeke to the dentist in the "big city" - about an hour and a half drive from our home. He had to have a molar extracted. He did so well! Afterwards he got an Oreo Blizzard from Dairy Queen and picked out a Lego set from Walmart as his prize. 

Still numb but trying to smile!

Friday, Eli and Gendeling came in from Ruston, where Eli is still in college and is working. It's about a two-hour drive, and they come home at least every other weekend. I say "home, but they are renting a home in Ruston. But this is always "home." He works at a golf course and he loves it. He graduates in February! For those who remember, his wife is from Nicaragua, and she finally got to America in January of this year. They're expecting a baby girl in mid-November, which makes our third grandchild! We played some cards and watched some movies.

Mikaela (our oldest) graduated from nursing school in May and is now traveling with her pipeliner husband and their two children, Daniel and Kenna. She is going to homeschool Daniel this year! I miss seeing them since I babysat them for her several times a week for a few years while she was in school! We FaceTime quite a bit and I am planning to meet her halfway to get them for a week or so before we start school back!

Zeke and Zoey went to my mothers-in-law's house this afternoon for a few hours and enjoyed time in their little pool! 

I've been getting all of our homeschool curriculum ready to go this month! I'll make a separate post with what we will be using for Zeke and Zoey. I've printed hundreds of pages, used almost that many sheet protectors, and been putting everything in binders!

I created this for Zeke!

We've also joined a homeschool co-op in a town about a forty-minute drive from our house. I'll be teaching two classes - Little Problem Solvers Math and Little Problem Solvers Science. Zeke will be taking four classes! I'm excited about this opportunity. It's on Thursdays for ten weeks in the fall/winter and ten weeks in the spring/summer. I've also spent a lot of time working on that!

Titus broke his arm at rodeo camp a few weeks ago.... yes, my boys are still riding bulls, and this is our first broken bone (and hopefully the last) ever!

Silas riding a bull!

Mercie graduated in May!

Rod and I worked the gate at the Rodeo!

Mercie was the 2026 Rodeo Queen!