Savannah Trip

After Christmas my dad flew the boys to New Hampshire for 5 days so that left Steve and I alone!! I have wanted to take a day trip to Savannah, Georgia for quite some time and thought this would be a perfect time for Steve and I to have a getaway just the two of us!

A few things about me and traveling.
I love an adventure!
I love to travel cheap.
I love one day road trips.

So we dropped the boys at the airport at 6:30am and headed north to Savannah. On our way up we stopped in South Newport, GA to visit America's Smallest Church.
12 seats and a pulpit, enough for Jesus and his disciples.

When we arrived in Savannah we found a parking garage and hit the streets. I actually had a walking trip planned for this city in the form of what I have called "Amazing Family Vacation: Savannah Style" Through reading a series of clues we made our way around the city, visiting famous and not so famous places as well as a "movie sighting" tour, taking us to places in Savannah seen on the Hollywood big screen!

Here are just a few of the over 200 pics I took that day!

We ate at the neatest place, the Pirate's House. Not a gift shop.

The street crossing button spoke to us, we growled back.

Steps leading down to the river.

Steps leading up to the bluff Savannah sits on.

We reenacted this movie seen as best we could.

Not a bad job for having no one around to take the shot.

Another "movie sighting" shot.

Churches.

This one was one of a few churches on the east coast who held regular services during the Civil War.

Synagogue.

Famous fountain.

Cathedral- amazing, truly amazing.

Bonaventure Cemetery.

We ended out night back at America's Smallest Church, the traffic on the interstate was at a standstill and we had to go potty real bad, the gas stations were packed and so we, being the country folk we are, knew this place had dark shadows and would be empty. We were right, we relieved ourselves and took this shot.

And then I saw my very first, I didn't think they existed anymore....

These pics are just a small, very small, glimpse of all we saw and did in this amazing city. The The whole trip, including gas cost about $100. If you live within a day drive and are interested I'd love to share with you our Amazing Family Vacation clues so you too can enjoy this city and learn all about it's history and it's interesting facts and people.

Drop me a line.

I Wanna Chase Lions

I always have tons to say in my own head and then by the time I get a new blog post open I lose it all.

Like yesterday, something came to mind and the words were perfect in my head, I never opened the computer and today can't even remember what I was gonna say.

Again this morning I had tons to say as I drove home from picking up creamer for my coffee and yet again opened my computer and nothing.

So here are in no particular order things i wish i had more to say about:
+I could write about the sweet book I'm reading called "In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day", except I'm only 24 pages in and can't think of a halfway intelligent thought besides i wanna be a lion chaser.

+Or I could write about my small group at youth group last night only quite frankly I don't wanna share about that; it's good stuff and it needs to stay in the walls of that room.

+I could share about the trials of teenagers and the heartache of realizing they will one day trip and fall and I won't be there to catch them, but then I may cry and I'm having a good make-up day and as a fair skinned redhead those are great days!

+I could share my new level of anxiety attacks. Funny how those creep on. When I was at my anxiety attack height I would find myself waking suddenly at night gasping for air, the worst of which attacks left me uttering nothing but the name Jesus, Jesus over and over until more compiled thoughts, prayers and scripture verses came to mind. No, my new level is much more subtle, more sneaky and seem to come on much earlier in the night and yet they remind me that it is only my Savior who can calm the root of my attacks.

+I could write about my garden and the broccoli we have harvested, and by we I mean me; or the fact that my celery plants are doing good despite the fact the cats keep wanting to poop in the box that houses the small seedling containers.

+Oh and then there's the fact that the trampoline should come down. Each time the kids jump on it springs fly off in all directions like mini projectiles wanting desperately to bust a window out; but I just can't take that part of their lives down yet.

+I could write about my desire to start some sort of Detroit-ministry-fundraising-sewing-venture but am being held back by...? fear? uncertainty? lack of motivation? Actually I'd appreciated prayers on this one.

+I could write about our trip to Savannah, the fact that I'm gonna be a great-aunt or how much God has blessed Steve's business.

I could write about so many things and after typing all of that I think I did write about them.
What about you what would you like me to write about? Do you have any questions for me?

This is Somewhat Random

Working in youth ministry I often find myself pretending to be someone I'm not hanging out with students I sometimes barely know.
But eventually those strange students become my friends even after they discover the real me.

Wait, wait let me explain.

See about 4 years ago I found myself driving home from a conference in a rental car with 4 teenagers I barely knew. We cranked up KJ52 and before I knew it I was labeled MS52. So now to some students, OK to just one, I am known as MS52 Hip-Hop Rapper Extraordinaire! And to that student: well they're my Hype Man!

Fast forward to today.
Today, the actual date of to-day: my Hype Man, who was riding shotty on that trip and who also happens to be a girl, came over today and straight-ironed my hair.
I look good.
Really good.

Just sayin'.

Now I am ready for our weekly and oh so exciting Monday Night at the Span Ranch.
See, Mondays are the night when we watch the TV show Heroes as a family, we have for years.
Only Justin doesn't watch it anymore
and nowdays Vaughan is usually on the phone, in his room.
Then of course there's the fact that the shows time slot moved from 8pm to 9pm so Steve and I have replaced our awake time with Chuck and usually fall asleep before the first Heroes commercial comes on.
Oh well,
at least I have good hair!
and let's face it, good hair is really all that matters.

Thankful for My Boy

I know most often I talk about the frustrations and heartache of raising teenagers.

I don't share those things in a negative way I just have found that I have never NOT wanted anything more than my children growing up and leaving the house. I just love them.

Perhaps we should have had more children, but that wasn't in the cards for us and by in the cards I mean it wasn't God's plan for me to raise more than my two babies for the past 16 years.

What I don't blog about as much is the joy my boys bring me, I guess when I am joyful I tend to not head to the computer as much as when I am frustrated.

I had one of the greatest conversations with Vaughan today.

Let me back up.

Our whole family has been under attack lately.

He has been under attack, my baby or better said: God's baby, has been under attack. I told him sometimes when we make right choices for God the enemy will move in closer. While this hurts a momma's heart, it has allowed for some of the most precious conversations.

For that, I am thankful for this time of hardship.

Thankful.

The funny thing is, while we have had great face to face conversations the most real, in-depth ones have been on the phone.

Thank you technology and thank you Lord for a not perfect but very precious, very kind and compassionate, tender-hearted, hard-working 16-year-old who wants to follow You O Lord.

Thank You.

and if you're a prayer. please pray ;-)

A Bit on Home Schooling Middle School

I thought I'd post a little snapshot of how I have handled home schooling middle school.
One of my main objectives in middle school has been to help my boys be self-motivated and self-sufficient in school.

Here's what we've come up with that works for us.

I list the date and their daily assignments ona white board, when they complete an assignment it gets erased. This helps me to be able to see at a glance where we/they are in their school day and is nice for them to wake and see what their day will consist of. I can teach the lesson and then it is up to them to have the assignment complete by the end of the day. If they want to go somewhere or have someone over it is easy to see if school is done, if it's not- they know the answer. This helps because I don't have to ride them about getting on their schoolwork or be the bad person who says no.
Wanna go to KNOWN on Wednesday nights?? is school done?
Wanna have a buddy over?? Is school done?
Wanna go to the skate park?? Is school done?
Trust me Middles Schoolers are not all that motivated to do anything but visit with their friends.
When it comes to all their books I have taken a square laundry basket and turned it into a file draw. It sits below the table that houses the white board, pencils, pens and daily used books. I took manila folders and cut them to have tabs and I labeled the tabs with the appropriate subject. The stuff that gets used daily usually sits on top of the table but our current reference books and manipulatives sit in their proper section of our file "drawer".

So that is how I have survived middle school home school. This being my last year of full-time home school I am not sure what I'll do with this area of my dining room?

If you home school I hope this gives an idea you may use, if you don't home school and struggle with getting your child to do homework, a whiteboard may work. Just write the word homework on the board, when they finish their work it gets crossed off, if they wanna do something it makes it easy to answer, just look at the board.

Happy learning!

Boys and Their Toys

I cleaned out the entryway recently and found this stash.
I will list these items left to right.
Kenyan rock, piece of wood, machete, larger machete, umbrella, gold club
The hunter/gatherer in them shows through.

All Along

It’s not everything it seems - the world and its dreams
Slipping like water through my hands tonight
All the things I thought would fill me up inside
Left me empty here - and now I know why

All along I was looking for something else
You’re something else
All along I was looking for something more
You’re so much more
I finally found what I could never see before
You’ve always been the one that I was looking for

All of my castles in the sand - washed away again
And I’m left back where I began tonight
The only thing that can ever fill me up
Has been right in front of me all the time

bridge:
I won’t miss you - I won’t miss you this time
I say I want you - yeah I want you in my life

Remedy Drive
currently my favorite song
listen here

More Thus Far

I have been updating my garden and kitchen blog.

I like the separate blogs to help organize my thoughts.

So if you want to see my FL garden

or

get some recipe ideas, check out

Thus Far in the Garden and Thus Far in the Kitchen

Meanwhile we attended a local Aids Benefit Concert organized by on of my youth group girls. Here are some pics.

Mary getting interviewed on the why?

Another of my girls came with a carload of friends.

Mary is my friend Louise's daughter. It was wonderful to connect with her at this fun time!

My boys and I.

Hope you're staying warm

Banned From Hugging

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you

1 Peter 5:7

Wow, it's been since Christmas that I posted.
I gotta be honest it doesn't surprise me that I have been away.
See, I've been away from my computer.
No not because I've been on an exotic vacation in the Caribbean, although I wish that were the case, no I have been away because I've been relaxing and dealing with my family.
Relaxing in that my boys were gone to NH with my dad for 5 days! Yippee!!
Steve and I had 5 whole days to ourselves and get this we got to spend those days IN OUR OWN HOME!!!

Gotta be honest- it was a blast! I'll keep all the details to myself but trust me having no teenagers in the house is all the more reason to par-ty it on down!

And by party I mean watch movies, not grocery shop, eat out and clean once in 5 days!

I've also had plenty of opportunity to hang with Steve's sister and her family who are visiting from points north!

Dealing.
I think all holidays deal with the "dealing" of family.
Not that it's bad but it's not how I like my life the other 50 weeks of the year.
I had to deal with their insecurities
Deal with their difference in parenting.
Deal with their language choices.
Deal with their relationship issues, their spending issues, their disappointments in me.
I really don't mind all this dealing, afterall they too have to deal with me.
Ugh.
I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

The dealing that is most time consuming for me right now, and not leaving any time soon, is the dealing with teenagers.

I never realized the heartbreak, frustration and ugh feeling that comes along with raising kids; but there is something about having teenagers in the house that really baffles my mind and exemplifies all that is evil in parenting.

For instance, I have to be careful what I share on this blog that relates to my boys.
Not that they even read this blog, or anyone does for that matter, yet they will specifically ask me to "not share this" on my blog.

So it is somewhat restricting what I can write about.
The there's this thing called hormones.
It comes in late at night, arrives early in the afternoon and has even been know to greet us as we are eating breakfast.
Yes, hormones occasionally come into my home and posses one of my children.

For instance I am currently banned from hugging one of my children because I have said "no" to using my cell phone for texting. See, I had shared my phone then it slowly became me asking for my phone and I realized I had forgotten who was boss around here, so I grabbed that job back and said no to the phone sharing on. a. daily. basis.

Oh and did I mention I am not allowed to sing along to any of the songs one of my children likes. Well, I can sing but not any louder than the music and not so anyone else can hear. I also don't make good pancakes anymore and get bypassed for "good mornings" occasionally.

So in my dealing I have stepped back from the internet.
Not because it's bad but because I want to focus more on this place I am called to: MY HOME and MY FAMILY.
Of course I have thought often about hopin' on a plane and heading to the Caribbean, things are better there,
well, until I arrive.
Then i bring my junk.
But I'd like to go,
maybe never to return.

But, until then here I sit.
Quietly.
Smiling.
Standing my ground.
Praying.

Happy New Year!
and whatever you're dealing with I encourage you to cast it on Him who cares for you.
It helps me deal because in reality when it comes to dealing, I really don't have too!