School's Out for Summer

School is out for us all and it would be a huge understatement to say I was happy.  They boys are both moving on, Jack to high school and Thomas to middle school.  They both ended with A/B honor roll.  Thomas had a really hard year.  He was sick with the flu and missed many days.  He had to do after school make up lab to take some days off of his absences.  Thomas struggled with anxiety that caused tummy issues.  All of the testing mess stressed him beyond a level a 5th grader should have to endure.  Jack has 0 stress over testing and some days I wish he did so I knew he cared.   At least two of the days Thomas had tests he either threw up before school or after he got there.  I want get on my soap box about the meaningless testing today. 
I am very proud of my boys for finishing strong this year.   Our summer will be centered on fun, some football,  and some learning so we stay ahead of the game.  
On another note, I ended my two classes with an A and B.  I was really hoping for two A's but my criminology final was a bear.  I am taking the summer off this time so I will be fresh in August to get back to work.  Stay tuned to see what the wild boys get in to this summer.

Cybercrime. . . and the Holidays

As our Christmas season is fast approaching please do not forget your good sense when shopping.  If it looks and sounds to good to be true it probably is.  Don't click on that banner to win a new ipad mini or car or whatever they are touting you can win.  It is probably a virus, malware or spyware, either way you will be in for trouble.  If you get an email about a hot deal from somewhere you have shopped before don't click on that link in the email it very well could be a phishing attempt.  If you really want to check out the deal re-type the address for the website given in the email in your address bar and see what happens.  These are a few of the things I have been reading about for my cybercrime classes I am taking this session.  I want everyone to be safe this wonderful Christmas season.  Another trick is smishing, this is text messaging you might receive saying their is a problem with your bank account.  Do not respond to this, call your bank with the number you have and know is your bank.  Never text bank information to anyone.  Your bank is probably not going to text you if they have a problem with your account.   Think before you act and like I said before if it sounds too good to be true it probably is, even on Black Friday.  Be safe online shopping.

New day. . . .

Ok I am over my pity party today and moving on.  New day new attitude.  I have decided that I will live for me and my family and no one else.   My number one priority is going to be my health and well being and then my families health and well being.   I plan on teaching my kids what they are not getting in school at home.  We already read the Bible most every night before bed and do devotions.  I love our devotions, they bring out topics that we may not talk about routinely.  They also make it easy to talk about difficult subjects.   History is another topic I will be teaching my kids.   Thank goodness my dear hubby  is a history buff, I will leave the history to him. 
One of my dear friends gave me some good web sites to look into for home schooling and I will be using these to help my boys through this year.  I am not in favor of the common core stuff.  Everyone says it is supposed to make everyone across the US teach the same information at the same time.  I don't agree.  Our school system still cannot figure out what is a good score for the test my oldest son took last year in 7th grade.  Why are we stressing our kids out over a test that the administration cannot figure out how to grade?  
I will no longer let anyone else dictate how I feel about myself.  I will try and teach my kids the same.  I want them to feel and be strong in themselves.  If you are strong in yourself you cannot be bullied by anyone.   Stand up and be strong. 
I use Keys for Kids for our devotions, google that and you will find the website.  

Feeling a little under appreciated. . . .

Have you ever just thought you could not win no matter what you did?  Have you ever just felt like giving up completely?  Who would notice if you didn't do all the little things that you do?   This has been a terrible week and I am in need of a good vent, just to get some things off of my chest.  Why is it we try so hard to do and please so many people that really do not care about you or anything that you do?  All they care about is if they get what they need out of us.  We really should just  care what our family thinks of us and how our family appreciates us.  I think it is in grained in us at an early age to care what others think of us.   I see this as a fault not an attribute in human nature. 
People will bleed you dry if you let them.  They will take and take and never give back.  Those are the people you should stay away from.  They are everywhere and sometimes they are not individuals they are entities like our school system.  They want you to give and give and give and what do you get back?  Kids that are being bullied and your school systems' answer to the problem is don't ride the bus, or if your kids lunch is being taken everyday by the same kid and the school tells you why don't you let your child buy their lunch.  Ha!!!  Why can't the school stop the bully??????  They know who it is, what is the hold up?   Here is another gem from our school system.  One kid trying to keep the bully form falling on top of him and crushing him and they both get sent to in school suspension.  Where is the justice in that?  I will tell you there is no justice.   I will be so glad when my kids are out of the public school system.  I cannot afford private school for two and I could not handle home school but I may have to buck up and do it.  Several of my friends have taken their kids out of our school system and are either home schooling them or sending them to private school.  You would think this would send a signal to the school system.  They are completely clueless!!!!!

Have people just lost their minds??????

A friend and church member posted on facebook yesterday an incident that happened to her while picking up kids at school.  A man impatient to say the least  was trying to get around her and was demanding that she mover her car.  The child she was picking up was not in the car just yet and he proceeded to try and come through her window.  He broke her window, she got out of the car to try and get him away from the child in her car and he then went to his car and tried to ram her car.  All of this in the school pick up line.  I will say again, have people just completely lost their blooming minds?  This man has been charged with everything the Kernersville Police can charge him with.  I hope and pray that the school forbids him from ever being on that campus again.  My friend is ok, she said she was shaken up but she did not cry.  I had to laugh I would have been in tears all over the place.  She is a very strong woman and for that I am so glad, for her and the children she was picking up.  She set a tremendous example for them and anyone else that was there watching.
I think as a society we need to stop and take a breath and think before we act.  Yes, I get put out sometimes with people but I don't think I would get out of my car and confront them is such a manner.  We need to take a step back and start respecting each other a little more and teaching that to our kids.  If we don't we will be seeing and hear a lot more of this on the news.

Sprats' Birthday. . .

Sprats' birthday is fast approaching.  He went to his first concert last weekend to celebrate.  They went to see Carnival of Madness.  It rained, stormed and they had a delay, they got wet but they all had fun.  He got a new pair of tennis shoes, a size 12, heavens to Betsy he has BIG feet for a soon to be 14 year old.
Thinking about his birthday made me want to pull out his baby book and my pregnancy journal and revisit those days before his birth.
I had forgotten about the nick name dear hubby had given him before he was born.  Hubby went with me to one of my visits to hear the baby's heartbeat and he said it sounded like a diesel engine humming, so he called him "little diesel."  I had forgotten all about that one.  All of the boy names I had picked out and we did not use any of them for either son.  It is funny all the things you write down with the first child that get forgotten as time goes by.  I am so glad I wrote those things down.  I was telling Sprat about some of the crazy things that happened when I was pregnant with him.  
Hubby and I like to watch wrestling, yes I am a closet wrestling fan.  There was a particular duo that we liked that do not wrestle together anymore.  They were the Road Dog and BA Billy Gun.  Whenever their music came on Sprat would start bouncing around inside my tummy.  You could see my stomach ripple as he bounced and danced, he loved their music.  
Poor hubby could not eat any meat in the house in my first months of pregnancy.  The mere smell of meat would send me over the edge.  There were days I could be in the bed room down the hall and he would open the refrigerator and I knew it by smell.  I also craved watermelon while I was Great with child.  I remember going to the little fresh market down the road from our old house and buying them almost weekly. I got so big that the little man had to help me get them in the car later on in my pregnancy.  My belly was as big as the watermelons.

Facebook drama. . .

So I posted a thing about the Pledge of Allegiance on my facebook page and how we used to recite it at school.  I think it is a good thing, it teaches children respect for our country.  One of my "friends" on facebook came back at me about it and how it is brain washing to teach our kids this and how our country was not founded by Christians.  I did not post anything back to her because I think it is silly to argue on facebook and I believe it would have been futile to argue with her.  Our country was founded by people looking for religious freedoms.  I cannot attest that they had indeed taken the Lord Jesus as their Savior but I do believe there were some Christians in the mix of our leaders.  I think her whole hang up about the Pledge is that it says, "One Nation under God. . ."
I am a Christian and I do not say this to say I am perfect, I am far from it.  I am a Christian because I have asked the Lord Jesus to come into my heart and to forgive me of my sins.  I am a sinner, I will never be completely free from sin, but God loves me just the same.
What do you say to someone that does not believe in God?  I cannot imagine not believing in God.  All I have to do is look at my beautiful children, my life, or walk outside and look at the sky and know that there is a God that loves us all.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion and again I will not argue with people on facebook, it is silly.    I was just blown away by her comments, I would never post anything like that on someones' facebook page.
This may be God at work in my life telling me I need to minister more to those that don't believe.   I will be praying about this.   If you have ministered to someone that did not believe in God I would love to hear from you, just click comment and tell me how you did it.  You can do it anonymously, I don't mind.  If you have a different opinion that is fine too, I will not argue though.  I just want to hear what everyone has to say.