Working Chores

I've decided to implement chore charts once again. The main reason is that I need help around the house. I still don't believe in making their life miserable for my convenience, so I will motivate them with good ol' cash. The more I thought about how to do this the more I realised that it can also be a lesson for them in working and earning wages. In past chore charts I also did a money earning model, but I think I will make this one more like a job than just chores.
I will make a sign listing all the "jobs" available, how much each will pay, and by when they need to be done (dead line).
They will have a choice of jobs, meaning I will not assign them specific chores, instead they will chose what they want to work on themselves.
They also will get to chose if they want to work at all or not. If not, that will fine. Just like in the rest of the world, if they work they will earn money, if they don't work they will not. Simple as that.
I will make "time cards" where they will log in the chore they did, and if it was done properly and on time. They will recieve their wages only if the job was done as required, no half effort will be payed for.
Then every 2 weeks they will turn their time cards in and receive their wages, then they are free to spend their money as they wish.
There will also be a "direct deposit" option they can chose which is that instead of me just handing over the cash to them I will be the "Bank" and keep it for them. If they chose to save their money in the Bank they will also earn interest. The longer they keep their money in the Bank the more interest they will earn.
There are some details about this program that I still need to take care of, but I think this is a good way to combine both our belief in freedom of choice, and showing our children that hard work, wise choices and faith in God yield prosperity.

Life has been a roller coaster since August but God has been faithful and all loving as always to us. Two weeks after we had to leave the in-laws house Nick found the best job he's ever had. It comes with so many opportunities for us for now and the future!
About a month and a half after that we found a cute little house in Parker, AZ just a block away from the Colorado river.
I have been a bit stressed out with the kids though. I think all the chaos has hit me in the past couple of weeks and I feel very tired and that makes me more impatient and irritable. I really don't have a reason to not be full joy. I know that I also need to get back to more Bible reading and study also get into some sort of fellowship, not just for me but for the kids and Nick as well.
The relationship with the in-laws is on a healing path. I must admit that I've been reluctant to even communicate with them, but as any Christian knows ignoring the Holy Spirit is all but the hardest thing in the world to do! In my humanness I preferred to get rid of all toxic people in my life for good, but the Lord's plans and higher than mine and perfectly good and He won't give me peace until I obey His command to love even my enemies. Peace does come after obeying Him, even when my flesh resists. I still have some healing to do but I give it to the Lord because I know He will finish His good work in me.
Life is good right now. I feel as if it will only get better. Of course, with the Lord no matter what happens our joy is eternal will surpass any circumstance!
Thank you my precious Jesus!

living situation

Our living situation right now is not a good one. Things are not working out as we had hoped with the family members we share a house with. The kids and I want so badly to move out and have our own home again, but if we do that Nick will have to quit working on our biz and go back to working for someone else. This is a sacrifice we must make. My trust is wholly on the Lord which is why I have not taken matters in to my own hands. If I didn't believe that somehow it will all be OK, I would long ago have done things to change our circumstances. But one thing I am certain of, specially because I have seen in in our life as well as the lives of so many others, when we take matters into our own hands instead of doing God's will the consequences will disastrous.
Part of that is the reason we are in this mess in the first place. If we would have done God's will from the beginning over 10 years ago with the biz instead of relying on our own so called wisdom I know that right now we would have the awesomely abundant life God has always wanted to give us. Instead we are here, trapped in a prison of our own doing having to start from square one.
Sometimes the fear and desperation seem so unbearable, but this time I turn to the Lord instead of my own means. I need to trust in His plan. I need to remember that as hard as life is now we must press on and not make decisions again motivated by impatience and desperation.
Oh, it's not easy to practice self restraint in that matter! But I must once and for all just let go ad let God to His work.
For now we are afflicted and it breaks my heart and ails more than anything that my children have to endure this as well.
I suppose this is a chance to teach them lessons as well. I can show them what happens when one doesn't follow God's will and relies on one's own wisdom instead. Also, a lesson on loving the unlovable (the family we live with) and letting the grace of Christ shine from us to them.
It is an up hill battle to say the least. I have no idea how long this particular road is, and that is not easy to bear, but I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me strength.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Nicky asked me if we could go to "Dora, Diego" I was like like "huh?". Then after some questioning I figured out he meant San Diego! He must have over heard us talk about SWC in San Diego next week and now he's all psyched about going. So am I though, yay, can't wait!!!

My Body Is Where God Has Created 4 Miracles...So Far!

My body is now 219lbs at 5′2″. The Lord has me on a journey to love myself just as He created me to be. I’m on it for my sake and that of my kids. Even for my hubby who has always thought of me a beautiful and sexy whether I weight 130 or 230lbs (I’ve wighed both and more while he’s known me), and he hates when I don’t see myself as he and God do which is perfect just as I am. My body is where God has created 4 miracles!!!

Haven't written here for a while. We've been busy, as always (haha). Since the last time the kiddos and I took a trip to California to visit the family for a week. Had a nice time there, but we missed Nick =(. When we got home our fish were dead, save for one so that was an excuse to buy an aquarium complete with 2 more gold fish, an algae sucker fish, and a tiny fiddler crab. Lets see how long those survive, lol.
Rosie discovered the joys of listening to books on CD all the way home. We listened to most of the book during the 5 hour drive. Isabella, amongst other things, works hard on reaching various levels on her Toontown game, and Rosie is too. Nicky has been testing his independence more, and Nick and I are trying to show him how to do it with out disrespecting others. Eva is just becoming more and more curious and loves to take risks. That is why we always have to keep an eye on her, even if from a distance. Though unless she is in true danger of course, I rather let her explore the world with minimal interruptions.

The other day my DD9 and I had a conversation about why we unschool. The subject began when she told me that the father of her BFF asked her, "How can you learn anything when you do nothing all day?". He assumes that because we don't force on our kids any rigid curriculum or "learning" schedules that it means they do nothing and therefore learn nothing all day. That is an illogical statement since, unless one is dead, one cannot truly live life doing nothing. Every human being at all moments of life, even in sleep, is constantly soaking in and processing information as they experience whatever circumstance they happen to be living in.
I asked DD about her opinion on being unschooled vs. traditional homeschool. She said that when I used to homeschool her in the "mini-school" way she felt as if she was "trapped in a cage starving", "desperate" and that she "couldn't wait to get out". She said that she didn't feel like she was learning anything and she simply did the work to get it over with. And that when we began to unschool she finally felt" happy and free" to love learning. That was the first time she had ever expressed her feelings about the subject in that way. Her analogy is perfect for the way I felt like in school too. It's just too bad that it took me a couple of years of homeschooling her for me to realise that I was "trapping" her mind in the same way that schools do to children. But I am grateful to God that He showed me and Nick a better way!