And the Winner Is.....!

Tina Whitehurst!! Tina please contact me asap at jeffandanita@wildblue.net with your mailing address so that I can send you your dvd. Hope you enjoy it.

A Review and A Give-Away...Because I'm Back!

Update! Because it's the weekend and I want as many people to enter the give away as possible, I will wait to draw the winner's name until Monday night. Then we will get your package in the mail on Tuesday before we head off to Iowa.
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Jeff has been bringing home tons of dvd's for us to preview as content for The Homeschool Channel and some of them have been great. The children really enjoyed all of the Drive-Thru History series and the two or three that I watched were quite entertaining while sharing historical facts. I have personally enjoyed The Homestead Blessings series produced by Franklin Springs media. We have watched three dvd's showing candle-making, soap-making and bread baking. While we have done some of each I was really impressed with the candle making and have been inspired to get my hands on some beeswax and make up some glow lamps for myself. These were quite beautiful and didn't seem too difficult, but get the dvd and see for yourself. This week we have watched the breadbaking dvd a couple of times and Kaelan has decided that she wants to start handling our bread baking. Kaelan has been my "helper" in making bread, but today she asked to do it by herself. I did supervise and probably will for a little while longer but she made a great loaf of cinnamon bread and we also made three loaves of plain bread, two pans of cinnamon rolls and a double batch of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Aaron even got in the kitchen and made his own batch of cookies (he is allergic to eggs). I have been teaching him to write down recipes and make his own pancakes and now cookies this summer so that he doesn't always have to depend on me or Devin to do it for him. Can I write that up as a life skills course?

The Homestead Blessings series has just recently doubled in size to include three more dvd's on canning, gardening and herbs. This series is hosted by the West ladies--mom Vickie and three daughters who are very down-to-earth and very Southern ; ) . To get you started on your own set of The Homestead Blessings dvd's I am giving away one copy of your choice of either candle-making, soap-making or bread baking. Just leave a comment telling me which one you would like and why. Have you ever done any of these activities before? Are you a pro or do you have no idea how to even get started? The dvd's will interest you no matter your level of expertise. These dvd's also make great gifts! I have already given one to a sweet young friend who celebrated her 14th birthday just this week. Each entry will be placed in Jackson's cowboy hat and I will let him draw the name of the winner. The contest closes at 5 Sunday night and I will have Jackson draw later that evening and will post the winner's name asap.

Long Time No Post

Hi! It's been a long time since I have posted, but hopefully I will be here a little more frequently in the future. Several things have been keeping me busy around here namely Jeff, Lauren, Devin, Jordan, Aaron, Kaelan, Jackson, Caedmon , Chase and Eli! In addition to being busy with family matters--you know, cooking, cleaning, laundry, discipline, shopping, etc. we have had a busy time working on a couple of projects for The Homeschool Channel. Jeff and Jordan went to the Alabama homeschool conference where they conducted lots of interviews and filmed several speakers and then they came back home with Bob and Tina Farewell with their son James. Bob and Tina are the former owners of Lifetime Books and Gifts and we meet them several years back when they came in their big bus and parked in our yard for two days for visiting and conducting a "Have Books Will Travel" meeting. We had a great time back then and it looks like we will have many more opportunities for visiting in the future. Bob is now working with Jeff on The Homeschool Channel and we are so excited to have him and Tina joining the team. They know most everybody in the homeschool world and have made some great contacts. Anyway, they came home with Jeff and Jordan where we enjoyed a couple of meals and fellowship together along with Ken Carpenter and his son Cole from Franklin Springs Films. Why were they all here? Well,Tina conducted two workshops that were filmed and Bob conducted his Gettysburg monologue which was also filmed. All will be presented at a future time on The Homeschool Channel.

In other news... I have a new Canon Rebel something something camera that is all fancy and such that is taking great pictures...and I have a new iMac computer of my very own (ok, some of the kids will use it as well). I have a lot to learn about how to operate it as all I have used before was a Dell PC, but I think I am about ready to delve into the vast unknown and at least figure out the word processing program. Jeff is still uploading or downloading or installing or whatever it is that you do to get all of the "stuff" that I "need" on here in order to conduct business and school for the next year. Hopefully we will have all of that taken care of in the next few weeks and I can actually blog more frequently and include pictures taken with the new camera.

All of the girls' birthdays have now past. Lauren had her 25th in April. Kaelan turned 10 in May and Devin turned 21 in June. We now begin the boys birthdays starting next week with Chase who will be 2. He was just here the last two days with his mom and baby brother. I had been working on his "preschool in a box" for the last couple of months and was able to add a couple of Melissa and Doug puzzles and some board books for them to take home with them yesterday. I didn't get all the file folder games done that I wanted to, but I was able to include 16 activity bags that they can look forward to using for the next few years. Lauren was really excited to look through everything...or maybe she was just making me feel good about it!

I have actually planned out our yearly overview for school and have our first 8 weeks loosely planned. Now that I have a computer again, I can soon get our weekly lessons typed out (yes, I do that) and can get Jordan's study guides typed out as well. Jordan officially has 2 years of homeschooling left and we are trying to plan a course of action. He is really interested in photography and videography and is interested in a career in that area. Ok, it's no coincidence that he is learning and getting paid to learn how to do these things as he works with his dad on The Homeschool Channel. I think instead of us planning the course we are looking to see the course that God has planned. Jordan has no desire to go to college (math is a hindrance) and Ken Carpenter last week mentioned that he doesn't look for a college degree when he is hiring for his film companies. He looks for experience and that is what Jordan is now getting...and some of that is training with Ken Carpenter himself...How cool is that?

I am hesitant to put more time in school planning as Jeff is determined that we will be traveling together whenever he travels. That will generally mean leaving home on Wednesdays and returning at the earliest on Sundays. God's plans will definitely overrule my plans. Please pray with us that we can get a 12-15 passenger van soon so that we can travel in one vehicle and that we may be able to secure an RV which will make traveling much more enjoyable. It will help us car school if we can all be in the same vehicle!

Devin returned from Iowa Monday and was full of talk about the Amish stores that she visited while there. She impressed us so much that we are all going up next week. Ok, we were already going there but it just so happens that she was in the same area that we are going to be visiting next week. Jeff and Jordan will be filming and conducting interviews at the Fathers of Vision conference just outside of De Moines next week. The conference speakers include Scott Brown, Kevin Swanson and Peter Bradrick. If you are going, we would love to meet you. We will be the family lugging huge pieces of video equipment and pushing a baby stroller!

We are finally enjoying some peppers and tomatoes from our own garden. I haven't had enough to do any major canning yet, but hope to have some in the next few weeks.

Caedmon is now calling for mommy, so this long post will close. Hope to be back soon!!

It's a Busy Life

Life in Chambleeville just stays busy. Do you think if I change my blog title things will slow down a bit? We say it over and over, "Surely things will slow down soon!" But it never does. We do look back, though, on the days when we had fewer children and were homeschooling in what we called "The Wilderness" with no support and no like-minded friends. We'll take the busy times over the wilderness.

The yard and garden are taking a lot of time right now. I about have everything covered in mulch and am hoping that we will have fewer weeds to deal with. Tomatoes are producing and I can't wait for some good tomato sandwiches. With over 50 tomato plants I should get a least some good ones. Plan to put up tomato puree, spaghetti sauce, salsa and maybe even ketchup. We also have a variety of peppers that are producing. Hoping the squash, eggplant, zucchini, watermelon, beans, corn and potatoes do well. I have enjoyed the gardening so far and I think the children have as well. May the Lord bless the work of our hands.

Sunday and Monday Lauren and the babies were here. We took them along with Aaron, Kaelan, Jackson and Caedmon to the local Splash Pad where we met some friends. It was a really neat play area, but was somewhat crowded. I think we will wait to go back when the schools are back in session. Would love to have our own private water park!!

Today we were supposed to head up to the homeschool conference in Iowa where Voddie Baucham and Rick and Marilyn Boyer are speaking. I was sooo looking forward to hearing/meeting them, but instead I will be getting my gall bladder removed tomorrow. Too. Much. Fun. Please pray for a speedy recovery and pray that Caedmon will adapt to a bottle and formula for a day or two as I will not be able to nurse with all of the meds in my body.

Devin will be playing her violin in a LARGE wedding this weekend. She has been busy practicing for that and for her performing group which will be going on a tour of Iowa early next month. What's up with Iowa? Devin has also increased her number of violin students and is busy keeping up with them. She will head to Memphis next week for more Suzuki training for the entire week. Things will be a little quieter around here, musically speaking, with her gone.

Our master bathroom will be getting a renovation over the next few days. I will be so glad to have it finished! Then we can plan on having the other two done. And then we need the garage finished and then Jeff's office, Devin's studio, guest rooms, storage room, workshop (all under one roof) completed. The roof is on this building which is 30 x 60 feet. It was intended to be a barn and workroom, but then we decided to get rid of the animals. ; ) Then I have GRAND plans for an addition to our home. OK, I can dream, can't I? Even if it may be the impossible dream.... To dream the impossible dream!!

Please continue to lift Jessica Hulcy up to the Lord as she continues to recover from a horrible automoble accident that happened last month. You can check updates about her condition and how God is using the Hulcy family during this time at www.caringbridge.org/visit/jessicahulcy.

A Day in the Garden (and the laundry room)

Today was an outside day and thankfully the sun was shining and the temps were cool! I was able to wash and hang out about 6 loads of laundry (maybe that will take the bite out of my air conditioners running constantly!) Jordan was able to re-till a couple of beds that we had prepared earlier for beans and corn. The tomatoes (36 plants in a large bed) are producing, but so were the weeds, so Aaron, Kaelan and I weeded and weeded and weeded some more. Then we covered the entire area with hay. Hope to keep the water in and the weeds down with all that hay. We were also able to get the green beans in the ground. If they actually grow, we should have plenty of beans. My mom always liked to put up one bag or can of each vegetable for each week of the year. I would LOVE to do that, but we'll see. I think I need to make an outdoor kitchen to do some of that as the house gets so hot when we are in the kitchen all day in the summer. Last winter we created a compost bin and added veggie scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, grass clippings, leaves and apparently, last years tomato vines! Jeff put the compost in one of our flower beds and it is producing great looking tomato plants right in the midst of the crepe myrtles and hawthornes. I counted about a dozen there. We should have lots of tomatoes for canning and freezing. I would love to can spaghetti sauce and salsa.

Planning for the next school year is constantly in the back of my mind, but I haven't set aside the time to begin. We have purchased Teaching Textbooks for this next year and Jordan has already begun Algebra 2. We have a few NEW things that we will be trying out and I am eager to see how it goes. We will begin a two year stretch in American History starting with the explorers. I love American history and am eager to get back to it after spending the last 3 years in the ancients through the Reformation period. Maybe later next week I can actually get pencil to paper. I have printed out calendars and assignment sheets and would love to get new notebooks purchased as well. Hope to get some of the actual planning written out next week as there most likely won't be any garden work going on for me. I see the surgeon Tuesday afternoon regarding my gall bladder and I am hopeful that he can schedule me in later in the week. I will be "forced" to sit and read through curriculum and do nothing but plan for the next year..... and nurse Caedmon!

Now off to prepare dinner! Should it be spaghetti with homemade basil bread or country vegetables with cornbread? One child says no to spaghetti but the others say yes... What do I want?

Of Books, Blogs, Babies and Gall Bladders?

I love books!! We have a good many bookshelves filled with wonderful books, but I need more bookshelves. Actually, I need more house to hold more bookshelves to hold more books. Homeschool conference season is in full swing and I love to look through all of the offerings for books that may or may not be on my LIST of desired books. Yesterday, I took a much belated trip to the library to return a few books and pick up a few others. I always run into the Friends of the Library bookstore to see what they have. In a small box marked 10 cents a book I found the following: The Dolls' House by Rumer Godden illustrated by Tasha Tudor, The Tune is in the Tree by Maud Hart Lovelace, The Adventures of Danny Meadow Mouse by Thornton W. Burgess and Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry. Kaelan immediately grabbed The Dolls' House and set off to her room for a time of quiet reading.

Blogging just isn't happening on a regular basis right now. We have so many THINGS going on around here that I am not finding the time or the inspiration to blog about much. We do have a garden going, but it's been so wet that we haven't gotten the beans or corn planted yet. It may be getting too late, but I hope it will be dry enough this evening so the older boys can get the tiller out and get the beans and corn planted in the morning. I agreed to blog for The Homeschool Channel's blog last month, but, to be honest, I wound up having my first real case of homeschool burn-out and found it difficult to encourage others about homeschooling when I was discouraged. Am I allowed to have some burn-out after 21 years of homeschooling? I also think I am having some hormone issues which might have something to do with my burn-out issues...Hoping some Happy Cream will take care of that! We did make it to the Mississippi homeschool conference where I received much needed encouragement and made several curriculum purchases for next year. Jeff is now talking to homeschool business owners, curriculum writers, vendors, movie makers, etc on a daily basis and is receiving much encouragement from them in his work on The Homeschool Channel--which is in turn an encouragement to me as we are/will be meeting with many of these people in the next few months.

Babies are growing like weeds around here. Caedmon will soon have 4 teeth, is getting around by almost crawling, and can now put himself in a sitting position. He is also eating some solids, but mostly rice cereal. He turns down applesauce, bananas and carrots. He is a happy baby and I receive many comments about how happy he is. I always reply, "Wouldn't you be happy if you had 7 other people waiting on you hand and foot?" Right now he is being cuddled by his 16 year old brother. Caedmon's face lights up when Jordan picks him up. So sweet! Grandsons Chase and Eli are growing as well. Eli is about the same size that Caedmon was at his age--another chunky boy. Chase will have to watch out as both Caedmon and Eli are within 5 pounds of Chase's weight. Love all these baby boys!!!

Has any one ever had gall bladder surgery? Two times this past month I have had what we now know were gall bladder attacks. EXTREMELY PAINFUL! And I am NOT a wimp! I have delivered some big babies! A sonogram this morning showed many stones in my gall bladder. I have thought about doing a gall bladder cleanse, but I don't want to go through the pain that I had with the attacks. Anybody have any thoughts one way or the other? We are scheduled to go to the Iowa homeschool conference next week, but I don't want to go and risk having an attack away from home. What to do?

Today

Yesterday we had 25 people (that's not including the nine that were already here) for a birthday party for Kaelan. We had a great time fellowshipping with friends!! We haven't been as involved in extracurricular activities this past year, so we really soaked up the time with others. Jeff and Jordan left way before daylight to head down to the Orlando homeschool conference which begins tonight. I just called to check on them and they are breakfasting with Bob and Tina Farewell at the Chalet. I am green with envy!! OK, not really. I chose to stay at home with the children because we have so many other things going on this week as well. Next year, I will be there.

So today, we are cleaning things up from yesterday and getting ready for my mom and her husband to arrive mid-afternoon. This evening Aaron and Kaelan are playing in their piano recital. I think my sister is in town and will be joining us there are well.

Devin is playing violin in her first wedding this weekend and will have a rehearsal tomorrow night and provide some background music for the dinner. She has another wedding (much bigger) in a couple of weeks and will be meeting with the accompanists a couple of times to work on things with them.

Mom is bringing shrimp, so tomorrow we will have a grand dinner! A family get-together is almost incomplete without shrimp, whether it be in gumbo, fried or boiled! Yummy!

Continue to keep Jessica Hulcy in your prayers! Jessica is an amazing woman and has an incredible family. Read the lastest update at www.caringbridge.org/visit/jessicahulcy/journal. Good news from yesterday!

Back to the laundry and the mopping and the sweeping and the dusting and the.....nevermind! I just need to get busy!

Kaelan

Yesterday was Kaelan's tenth birthday. I no longer have any little girls here in the house....just little boys (this week we have 4 boys 4 and under). Kaelan requested chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Lunch was sandwiches and chips. Dinner was her traditional birthday date with her dad at a favorite Mexican restaurant. She requested chocolate chess pie for dessert here at home with the rest of us and opened presents after blowing out her candles. Gifts included sunglasses, candy, scented lotions, handbag, Mad Libs, fusion beads and a new digital camera. My camera has not been replaced yet and Devin's wasn't charged...so no pictures. :(

Kaelan has vowed to become more lady-like in her second ten years. I know that will happen as she has two older sisters who evolved from silly little girls to beautiful young ladies. I think it is harder for her being so much younger than the older girls and right in the middle of four boys. She is determined, though, and I hope to help her reach her goal. ; ) They grow so very quickly!!

Today a few friends are coming over for a birthday party. Jeff and Jordan are on their way to the homeschool conference in Orlando. Tomorrow Aaron and Kaelan have their piano recital and my mom and her husband are coming. Busy times as usual! I keep thinking a break will come soon, but that hasn't happened in a looong time.

Jessica

To keep updated about Jessica's condition check out www.caringbridge.org/visit/jessicahulcy/journal. It seems that they haven't finished assessing the damage from her accident. Recovery will be a very long process. Jessica was being a tremendous help to Jeff in getting The Homeschool Channel started. We will miss her input and are praying that she will have full healing. She is truly an amazing woman!!

News about Jessica Hulcy

This is a mass email from the oldest Hulcy son late last night. Continue to remember Jessica and her family in your prayers please.


Dear family and friends,



Jessica’s Ford Explorer was broadsided in Melissa, TX about 11:30 on Monday morning. We think she was hit by a volunteer fire truck responding to an accident. After a 25 minute extrication process she was Life Flighted as a level 1 (the most severe) trauma case to Parkland Hospital in Dallas.



She is still in critical condition. Here is what we know so far:

1. She is still unconscious but is moving all four limbs and attempting to pull the tubes out of her throat which is encouraging to the doctors.

2. Major Lung trauma, punctures to both lungs. Both were collapsed. One is now working well and they are still draining the other. Doctors are checking for possible damage to wind pipe and trachea.

3. Head trauma. Medium amounts of blood on the brain. Closely monitoring this to see if it improves. Surgery not necessary now, but possible to come.

4. As of now multiple broken ribs on both sides, broken left wrist, broken left arm in 2 places. Will require surgery. Possible broken left leg and right wrist. She has undergone 4 hrs of X-rays, over 1000 X-rays taken so far. They are working the broken bones in the order of most life threatening so there is a possibility of more discovery of broken bones.



We will be sending out another email as soon as we know more. Thank-you for your prayers.



Jason Hulcy