Time for school...already?!

So I've been really stressing out about Miss E's schooling this year. She is at kind of an awkward place in her schooling and looking at curriculums seriously gave me a migraine. There are SO many different types of curriculum it's ridiculous. And it's not like I can go to the curriculum store (I seriously wish that this existed, it would make life a lot easier) and flip through the books and decide which would work for us. Nope. They expect you to pay the $300+ for a full curriculum set and I guess hope for the best. I didn't feel comfortable with that because she is actually in two different grades right now and I didn't want to have to pick and choose from each set. Plus some of the sites ( like A beka) is very confusing as to what actually comes with what. It's seriously exhausting.

So I asked a friend who has been homeschooling for awhile for some advice. I was at the point where I wanted to pull my hair out. Miss E is 3.5, it shouldn't be this hard. Not yet anyway. If I was freaking out this early, how would I handle when she gets to be in middle school, etc? Then she said something that hit home. She told me that God gave Miss E to me and that He would give me the skills I need to teach her. I thanked her, shut off my computer, and prayed. Then I sat in a hot bath for about an hour. I woke up this morning with a new perspective. I had faith in myself again. I sat down and wrote out our objectives for this upcoming year, did a little research and went out and got what I needed. I pieced together what we needed ( and spent a ton less than what I would have on a boxed curriculum set) and now we are ready. I feel prepared and relieved. Come on August! Well actually we are starting a week early because we are going on vacation in September and will be taking a week off, so come on late July:)

Month 6 update and New church update!

I don't really have much of an update this month. I'm still hanging in there at the 30 lb mark. But I'm not discouraged. I know all about plateaus and how hard they can be to overcome. Plus, I had a personal medical issue the past couple of weeks and I was in too much pain to go to the gym everyday and I was advised by my Dr to take it easy. I still went, but it was like twice a week or three times a week(and I was not hitting it extremely hard, just didn't want to get out of the habit of going). That was only for a couple of weeks and this week I'm focused on getting back into my routine now that I'm good to go again:) So maybe in August I'll have a better update for you as far as the weight loss goes. 

The biggest update I have this month is that we finally found a church to call home. I'm not going to lie, it's not the kind of church I ever saw Brandon and I joining because we both come from conservative southern baptist backgrounds. Well this church is southern baptist(that came from the pastor himself), but it is not really conservative like we were used to. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it just takes some getting used to. We've been going every week since Mother's Day. I told Brandon that was the one thing I wanted to do, go to church. It just so happened that one of my friends invited my to her church that weekend. They were starting a new series and it peaked my curiosity. So we went. At first impression, I had my reserves. Everyone was extremely nice and welcoming, but everyone was SO casual. That was very different for us. Anyone who was raised in a traditional baptist church knows that on Sunday mornings you dress up to go worship. It's just how it was. Everyone was dressed in their Sunday best. And if you weren't, well you were looked at weird and/or whispered about. But here, just about everyone was dressed in jeans, shorts, just very casual and laid back. To be honest, I didn't care for that. The service started and the band started playing. Yes a band. I've been to churches before that had the band and the casual dress(Gracepoint, West Ridge, etc) and we just felt uncomfortable. But I always stick it out to hear the message. That's the ultimate reason I go to church is for the message. None of the other pastors could hold my attention, and I would generally tune out fairly quickly. Well this pastor blew me away. So we came back again and again. Every week Pastor Steve just had this way of delivering his message in a way that it was like he was talking right to me. He didn't talk above me, but just in a straight way that really impressed me and Brandon both. We went to the Next Steps meeting one Sunday night to hear about the background of the church and what the church is all about. Going into the meeting we were still both uncertain that we were going to join, but by the end, there was no question that New Season is where God wants us to be. Now I still can't bring myself to wear jeans to church(that is just a "me" thing, I don't judge anyone for how they dress to worship anymore), but we are really starting to enjoy the laid back atmosphere and the comfort of New Season. I know that no church is perfect and I'm sure that there will be things that we don't particularly care for, but we feel at home here. Miss E LOVES going and when we pick her up, she can't wait to tell us what she learned. They seem to focus on one bible verse a week  in her class and that's the one that I tie into our schooling during the week. I love that we have found a church to raise our daughter in. It just feels right and I feel at peace finally.