Good Things Coming!!

So, after my last post I've been trying to get my life back... and in between midday naps and crazy nausea (my poor husband, he really wants a girl, but if this doesn't quit in the next week or two I'm pretty sure we'll be welcoming another boy! Our one and only daughter is the only time that I wasn't sick for 9 months and got to enjoy some of the "oh, you'll feel much better in the second trimester" comments that the liars told me when pregnant with my first (a boy). The only relief I got with him and subsequent males is when they were born... I guess we'll really be solidifying the trend if this keeps up!) , okay, refocusing, I've done a pretty good job of getting things back together.

Last week some saintly friends took our children, (the older two to one friend and the younger two to another), and we were able to go to the LDS temple in Albuquerque which is a good little drive from here, so we stayed the night at a nearby Air Force base, it was great! The one thought that kept popping into my mind while I was there was about my education and spiritual goals and how that would influence my children, shocking huh? *laugh* Here I am pulling my hair out not knowing how things are going to come together but really feeling like I just need to do something and who knew? That was my answer. GET GOING. Sunday comes and just my oldest son and I go to church (we had one runny nose, a perpetually screaming child, and one that just wanted to spend time with dad since he has to leave soon), so it was a fairly quiet meeting. The overall spirit of the room was oddly calming and inspiring, the talks were on goals (anyone else feel like they catered this just to me?), and I got hit by the thought that I needed to come home and take a look at A Mother's Educational Course for Latter-day Saints. I found this website a while ago and thought it was incredible so I joined their yahoo group, got all jazzed and year after year I have not actually written out goals and determined to follow the schedules these amazing women have put together. I get updates in my email, so I've pretty much stalked this group for over 3 YEARS, and I was not even remotely thinking about them at the time this thought popped into my head. So... I guess that was my sign it was time that I make some strides to get on board with them! I wrote an introduction to them on Sunday when I got home so now I would be accountable and not hiding in the background, and I've ordered books and resources to help me stay on task and increase my knowledge. I have to tell you I'M TERRIFIED. Which for me means that I'm on the right road to stability for myself and family and the adversary is going to play head games with me until I can officially start and shut him down. I may be a bit overwhelmed, but not in the way I was last week... this is different. I'm different. I'm excited and so impressed that this was sitting right in front of me all along and the whole last month and getting knocked down to what felt like nothing opened the door to where I was finally able accept and embrace something different in my life. I'm usually able to direct everything myself, but I needed this to help find some direction so that I could do that once more, and my Father knew where I needed to look.

Anyway! I feel like this is the answer I've been looking for both me and my children and wanted to share it with you. The course outlines and everything being offered is free (which is my favorite number!) I appreciate the kick and redirection as well as the ability to interact with others embarking on your same field of study or studies, and there's a certain element of encouragement and accountability that is sometimes lacking in your everyday life. So, that's my first good thing that I'm working on!

Secondly.... drum roll!!!!!!!!

I MADE THE TOS CREW FOR THE 2011-2012 SCHOOL YEAR! I'm really excited about this! I've enjoyed reading review posts over at Our Busy Homeschool and have wanted to have the opportunity to share some of the same experiences with my children. As TJed-er's of sorts, we don't really have too many "set" things throughout the day or curriculum that we rely on too much. We like a lot of things and find them to be great resources, but we change at a moments notice and just try to have fun and enjoy things as they come. I felt like reviewing curriculums/products would be especially fun because when something showed up we'd have something most likely completely new and that I hadn't thought of (I'm not really a creative person, can you tell?) So! I thought this would be great for all of us here to shake things up especially during times when dad is away, so I'm super excited to have found out that I made it! From what I know we should start getting things to review come June, and I can't wait to share those with you!

Which then leads me to finally rewarding my followers for their efforts to help get me to the minimum number of followers needed so that I could apply in the first place! I don't have the cool little box thing that other giveaways have, I'll have to find that sometime, but here is the data from the website I use to randomize the winners, that's right! Because I'm excited about my new direction I'm giving away 2 Amazon gift cards!

Research Randomizer Results

1 Set of 2 Unique Numbers Per Set
Range: From 1 to 33 -- Unsorted

Job Status:

Set #1:
32, 8


So.... well, I was going to tell you who had those numbers but I can't for the life of me pull up my followers at the moment wither through blogger or on my page, weird! Okay, well, stay tuned for the next post and I'll let you know that and then you can send me your information so I can get you your card! You'll have 48 hours to claim your prize (that way I know you are really reading this ramble :-D), after that I'll be picking another winner and so on until both cards are claimed. Good luck!