We finished our second week of homeschooling and I think we got about 3 full days completed. Well we went to the zoo, so including that, we completed 4 days. We have been plagued with sickness. Elijah had a fever and was sick about 3 days. Now Isaiah is sick and has been for about 3 days. My goal this year was to finish an entire Sonlight Core in one year. I’m not on a very good track, but the beautiful weather hasn’t been very motivating to stay inside and work. Living in PNW, we take full advantage of sunny weather, if we can.

Homeschooling three has proved to be very challenging. It wouldn’t be if the seven year gap didn’t exist between my first and second. I am doing Sonlight Core 4 with my oldest. We spend about 2 hours just reading together. We are constantly discussing the literature and looking things up as we go, which makes the reading much longer. I am really focusing on improving his reading comprehension this year. I am teaching my two youngest how to read; beginning with phonemic awareness and letter sounds. I spend about two hours with them as well; doing reading, sounds, handwriting, and math. Well that is really only four hours between the three children, but I do spend about an extra hour with my oldest checking up on his independent work. Don’t forget the hour of exercise and an hour of cleanup/chores. So that is still only a total of six hours. What am I doing with the rest of my day? Not like I am blogging or anything. Everything is done a little slower this year because I am pregnant.

Needless to say, last year I was able to clean one room in the house every day. Not happening this year. The house is presentable, but I want to keep up with the deep cleaning as well. I went for a walk with my husband to tell him how overwhelmed I am, mainly because I don’t see how I am going to keep up with the housework. He suggested that we all take on the house Saturday mornings. Mark and Elijah will take on cleaning most of the house, while I do my baking for the week and clean the kitchen and floors. What a wonderful idea! I knew I kept him around for something. Well we can’t start that this Saturday, since Isaiah is sick and Mark has to take down this wall to fit our new wood burning stove which will be installed in nine days. He will be making a mess anyway, so no reason to clean this week. I think the house can go one more week as long as we spot clean.

I am praying Isaiah gets better by Monday, so we can have a normal week. Oh wait I have an appointment with the midwife on Wednesday and I really need to get the kids a haircut which is in Bellevue, so that will be another day off. I think I’ll make that for the week after. I guess it really is impossible to really keep up with it all. One day at a time and remember: Life is School!

2Peter 1:2-8 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of {the} divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in {your} moral excellence, knowledge, and in {your} knowledge, self-control, and in {your} self-control, perseverance, and in {your} perseverance, godliness, and in {your} godliness, brotherly kindness, and in {your} brotherly kindness, love. For if these {qualities} are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That is what it is all about!

Well I haven’t blogged the Bible lately probably because I can’t focus for too long. I am about 7 weeks pregnant and very tired. I have no internal motivation whatsoever and feel like I have a constant hangover. I am even dizzy writing this blog. I have decided that I want to blog this journey through my fourth pregnancy, hopefully to encourage someone else and then to have for my own records.

So here I am 7 weeks pregnant, and I can’t get off the couch. I still get up every morning to exercise. I am doing Cathe Fredric’s (sp?) Cardio Blast on Fit TV. She is killing me. On Fridays I do Gilad’s Bodies in Motion and Namaste Yoga. I think as I get further along I will just stick with Gilad and Yoga, but I don’t want to baby myself. My goal is to stay really fit this pregnancy. I was fit with my last two as well, so I really don’t know what I am worried about. This pregnancy I feel more tired than the others, but my husband says I was this tired with Ruthie. He believes it’s a girl. I guess nursing my two year old isn’t helping my energy level much. But I nursed all the way through my last pregnancy as well, so it’s nothing new.

I just ordered Fit Pregnancy magazine. I am excited about receiving my first issue. So my mind set is this: “I am training for a marathon.” The marathon of labor and at the end is the greatest blessing of all.

I have talked a lot about fitness, but I am determined to stay fit spiritually as well. I am studying the books of Ruth and Esther in my Women’s Bible Study and my Elijah and I are studying Revelation.

I pray for perseverance, wisdom and patience. Perseverance to do what I do not want to do. Wisdom to care for my body and patience for the training up of my children when I have no patience to do so. I thank God for the wonderful husband he has given me. He meets my needs and allows me to be on this couch.

Genesis 3:16 To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.”

Isaiah 53:11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see {it and} be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.

John 16:21 “Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.