Mama's Homeschool Steps Out

Literally.

The past week has been absolutely gorgeous here in SW Florida. We've been blessed with cool, breezy, no humidity mornings where we've not had the need to turn on the air conditioner. The kids love it and I love it!

This morning, I thought we'd have a special day of school by taking "school" to the park! It was very cute because when we got in the car packed with a blanket, school supplies, books, laptop, and snacks, Kai said, "Mama, you can't have school at a park." I said, "Sure, we can! That's another great thing about homeschooling, Kai. We can have school just about anywhere!" They got a kick out of that!

So, we arrived at one of their favorite parks, laid out our blanket, Amanda grabbed her laptop and everyone settled in. We started our school day, just as we do every day, with bible study. I was quite surprised how attentive they were sitting there listening to the story and during discussion time.

Reading and talking about Gideon and the importance of obeying God.

Everyone hard at work!

We had reading time and then ran off eagerly to the much anticipated playground equipment to burn off some energy. We came back, had a snack during story time, and then did our math work.

WOOT! WOOT! RECESS TIME!

Back to work!

Afterwards, we packed up and decided to take a little "nature" walk through the park. We saw neat birds like herons and egrets and walked the boardwalk in search of alligators. We've discussed many times about habitats and which animals live where. I often don't even have to bring it up because the little ones are very quick to let me know where we are and which of God's creatures may be lurking around.

This boy takes his math very seriously!

My girl's wings are spreading and she is doing amazingly well!

My China-man tackling those tough word problems!

We then took a walk through some very neat cactus gardens that AJ insisted on wanting to touch (no worries, I did not let him) and then through some pretty stunning rose gardens and a few small flower gardens that were surrounded by beautiful, fluttering butterflies.

Stopping at the pond and checking out the lily pads for frogs.

Nothing like finding real alligators to fit in perfectly with our reptile lessons this week.

I am enjoying homeschooling my babies so very much. Every night I thank God for the opportunity to be home with them and to be allowed this honor. Watching them literally bloom before my eyes is an amazing gift.

Heading home after a great day of school!

I remember saying to God when we started, "Lord, I'm doing this because I know you have called me to do so, but I am pretty sure that although I know you never make mistakes, you may have just picked the wrong person for this particular job." As usual, he probably laughed while sitting on his throne and said, "HA! Here she goes again." I am so thankful that again, I was obedient and stepped out of my comfort box.

I do want to thank some wonderful, veteran, homeschooling Mamas who have given me such great advice. I remember in particular being told that the most important piece of advice they could give me was to take not take it so "seriously". I thought at first, "Hmm...that's weird. How could you not take school seriously?" Well, now 2 months into it. I find that truly has been one of the best pieces of advice I have been given.

The first couple of weeks, I was so stressed about making sure we were "sitting down ready for class" at 9 am. I felt it was imperative for me to adhere to a stringent schedule. Now, I've thrown that all out the window. Oh yeah, we definitely have class every day. We still do bible study, reading, math, Spanish, science or social studies every day, with a day here or there of music and or art. But, I no longer adhere to schedules. If we wake up a little later, we just start later. If we wake up earlier. We then start earlier. If reading goes past the 30 minutes allotted, great! If it's less time, so be it. We're ALL enjoying school so much more now. The kids know the routine and know which subjects follow which. They look forward to school and on the one or two occasions, where we've not had school because of doctors' appointments or for whatever reason, they truly have missed it.

I am so thankful that I have been blessed with such wonderful friends that are not only amazing Mamas, but they are homeschooling pros. Your opinions, thoughts and ideas are invaluable to me. Please know the door is always open to receive whatever you wish to share!

To teach is to learn twice. - Chinese Proverb

Not what a Mama wants to see...

....but, it is what makes his crazy heart happy. And mine? Well, it makes mine rapidly palpitate have a heart attack.

I don't often get to post about my biggest baby, Tito. He's 27 years old, lives in another city and although we talk weekly, he's got his own life with a new bride. I guess I could admit that he's grown up.

From as far back as I could remember, Tito has always had lots of dreams. One of those dreams is one that I chose to ignore as he was getting older and would talk about it. I would nod and just say, "That's nice, honey." That was the extent of my encouragement of said dreams.

But, having a very similar personality to his Mama, he's no quitter. He perseveres. He's a fighter, literally. You may be asking, "So, what is this dream?"

My Tito has always wanted to be in the ring, either boxing, or worse yet, something more extreme like MMA (mixed martial arts) or UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). And while this is not my idea of fun or even a sport (and yes, I know it is), I support his dream and do the only thing I can....pray.

Tito's been training at a gym with a Sensei for this type of sport for a while now. Last week, when I got into the car after church I saw I had three consecutive missed calls from him. That surprised me. He usually calls me on the way to work during the week, which he already had. Three calls immediately drew a red flag. What was wrong?

I called him back and he answered with, "Mom, where have you been? I've been trying to get a hold of you?" I said, "Sorry, I was in church. What's wrong?" I could tell he was weighing his words carefully. There was a tone of excitement in his voice, mixed with a bit of caution.

He said, "Mom! I was invited to tryout for UFC." There was silence on my end. He said, "Can you hear me?" I said, after taking a deep breath, "You were? What do you mean?" Hoping that invite was to go watch a fight or something safe like that. He said, "The UFC is putting on a seminar that normally cost over $1500. to attend. I was INVITED to go and fight!"

I said, "So, this means you're going to actually fight, as in another person?", sounding dumb but hoping I had heard wrong. He said, "Yes. In the heavy weight division." After I reminded him about his beautiful teeth, his nose, his face, his brain possibly getting crushed, Mohammad Ali's illness attributed to being hit so many times in the head, etc., he said, "Mom, this is like a dream. Not many people get this chance." So, I bit my lip and said, "I really am happy for you. I will support your dream and pray for your safety. I love you and I want you to be happy and if this is what makes you happy....so be it." He seemed relieved, not that anything else I would have said would have changed his mind, but he seemed relieved.

So, this past Saturday was the big fight in central Florida. He went up with his trainer. I asked him if his wife was going and he said he asked her not to because he wasn't sure of what it would be like and if for some reason "it got ugly", he wanted his full concentration on what he was doing. So, to this Mama's ears, he was going at this alone. I prayed most of the day Saturday.

He called me early the next morning and told me all about the fight. He was a bit bruised, but said overall he was repeatedly told by the experts there that he did very well and they see him having a future in the ring. He was even told this by someone (sorry fighting fans I have no idea who this is) named Jeff Monson, a professional UFC fighter, who gave him some tips.

The fight consisted of 4 minutes of standing up fighting and 4 minutes of "grapling" on the ground. Tito is on the right and has the small tattoo on his back.

Warning: The person recording, does on a couple of occasions use foul words.

Tito, my precious first-born son, if this is truly your hearts desire and you want to follow your dream, your Mama will be standing there, albeit eyes closed, on the sidelines, holding on to her rosary and cheering you on. I love you, baby!

Heartwrenching!

I don't know if many of you have heard about this case, but as I watched the video, my heart shriveled up and tears ran down my face. I believe this scenario is the reason why many adoptive parents choose to adopt internationally. I know for us, it was very high on the list.

If you have read our AJ's story , who was adopted domestically, you'd know that our initial reaction when asked about adopting domestically was "No". Besides the cost, compared to an international adoption, one of our biggest reasons was just that, we knew that the possibility that we might ever lose a child was more than our hearts could bear.

That said, I am so incredibly thankful that God laid out the plans perfectly and that we were obedient to His calling. We not only had a wonderful attorney who informed us of the importance of both biological parents agreeing to terminate their rights, but we were immensely blessed to able to meet both of AJ's biological parents. Then, and only then, after it was clear that everyone was on the same page, did the attorneys go forward with the process.

My heart just goes out to this family. I cannot fathom the thought of one of my children being taken from me after 3 years. While I feel the biological father in this case is legally entitled to raise his son, I think that it would only be common sense on everyone's part, beginning with the judge, to put the child first and give this sweet boy a transitional period, instead of ripping him away from the only parents he's ever known and placing him with a total stranger who lives in a completely different state.

When I see cases like this happening, I sometimes wonder, "Are we in the U.S.?"

I do know that adoption is not for the faint of heart. What do you think?

(Please remember to scroll to the bottom to pause the music player.)