Another Life Chapter
November 29, 2009
One of the most interesting aspects of life is how it just doesn’t stay static – always changing – always offering new challenges. I’m not going to kid you, the last four years have been so difficult at times I was really looking forward to a time of smooth sailing. (I really was feeling like that would be right around the corner) — are you laughing yet?
My mom is relatively young, just 65, but hasn’t really kept herself in very good health. We had been talking about how cool it would be for her to move to Texas to live near the grandkids, who always seem to give her so much pleasure. I had grand ideas of getting my clutches into my mom. (Did I really say it like that?) I was hoping that we could help her with nutrition and exercise. These were things I was looking forward to doing.
My mom is one of those people who lights up a room. It’s like she carries her own little Christmas light all year long. Actually, she’s more like one of those goofy Christmas elves that sings and dances making everyone within a short distance stare — and laugh. Last Christmas she decided she was going to try to fly to the moon. She got a broomstick and started running around (I don’t know how in the world she managed to run around in my yard). Anyway, she had a blast trying to fly to the moon. She didn’t quite make it — not that time anyway.
Like I said before she’s been kind of not well for a lot of years. It seems like every few months there’s something new. She had gone into the hospital a couple of weeks ago thinking she had kidney stones. After some tests, they decided to do a biopsy. On Wed night before Thanksgiving the doctor called and told her to come in on Friday to begin chemotherapy. The news rocked my world. It was like being punched in the gut for a minute. As the tears fell, I began to think about positive things. I had somehow managed to leave the house that day with no make-up on my face. As tears poured down my cheeks, I thought, “At least I don’t have make-up streaks.” That reminded me that I got that “look on the bright side of every situation” attitude from my mom. Another great thought was that I had just managed to make enough money selling my Ignite the Fire book online so that I could drive up to see her.
I left on Thanksgiving for the ten hour drive. Meanwhile, friends had been preparing a marvelous turkey dinner with all the fixin’s that they were taking over to my house. So, even though I wasn’t home, my kids still had a great Thanksgiving with friends — and each other!
When I was about 7 minutes from my exit, my car suddenly quit moving. So there I sat on a dark cold night, on the side of the road. I was ready to begin bawling. But again, I decided there must be something good. I said to God, “Well God, it’s just you and me, You may as well have a seat.” And He did. We had a nice little chat. I called a tow truck. Within about an hour, I was back on the road. I still don’t know why the car quit working. I’m praying it will not do that again!
It was probably time for me to have some good quality time with my mom. I wouldn’t have chosen to do it at her hospital bedside, but I’ll take anything I can get at this point.
Mom has been in a lot of pain for quite awhile. After the first day they gave her a morphine drip which made her say she has NO pain. Then she started passing kidney stones! How cool is that? She got to pass the stones while on a morphine drip.
My mom is one of those really special people —- And that’s all I’m going to say about that now.
Ignite the Fire! Available Again!
November 22, 2009
Finally after many hours — and much typing (27,000 words in two days!) and then lots and lots of website tweaking. Ignite the Fire is finally ready for you to purchase! Yippee! Woo Hoo! Doin’ the Snoopy Dance!
You can get your copy at http://www.homeschool.terricamp.com
Another great thing is that I’ve found all of my lost workshops! I’ve been able to transfer one of them into an mp3 file and I’m giving it away for FREE! It’s my most popular workshop, “Putting the Fun Into Home Education!” And you get it absolutely FREE!
While I was transfering it from a .wav file to an MP3 I listened to it. I had so much fun listening in and what a great reminder of all the fun things we had done. At the time of the recording David was out running my booth. He was 11. John was apparently in the audience. He was only 9. I could hear him turn and wave to the crowd and say, “Hi, I’m John.” How cute is that? Oh, that was another one of the workshops, but…he was still at that one. I will be completing the other four workshops and once I do that, I probably won’t be giving this one away for free anymore. So get it now!
I absolutely loved those younger years of homeschooling. I still love homeschooling actually. But now the kids are all so self-sufficient I’m not needed quite as much.
Just tonight I was telling someone I don’t even remember teaching Bryan to read. One day – he was just reading. And now he reads a lot! Today he came in my room to tell me he was on page 200 of a book, Brisingr, that he started last night.
Erica told me she has written over 50,000 words in the past four months or so. Holy Schmoly! The cool thing about my conversation with Erica was that she was bragging on her siblings and their gifts and talents. She asked me if I had seen the picture of the English Wolfhound that Briana had drawn. I had seen it. Erica said, “She could make money selling her drawings!” I’ve actually thought of that. I thought she could make notecards for animal lovers and sell them. But she likes to keep her drawings to herself (and the family).
Erica said to me, “You know, I think the reason we are all passionate about things is because you gave us time to do the stuff we really love doing.” Wow! What a kid!
Tell Me a Story Mama
November 10, 2009
Ignite the Fire – Available AGAIN!
Ignite the Fire is available once again for immediate download. My much sought after homeschool book is now available online only for download to your own computer.
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