This year I had made a certain number of diaper cakes to give away this Christmas Season. When I give diaper cakes away, I pray about where they should go, and then wait expectantly for an answer.  I had the cakes ready to go in November, and the first week of December I started doling them out.
I regards to one particular diaper cake, God showed me precisely where it should go. On a weekday morning, in the light rain, I packed the diaper cake into the car along with the kids and drove down the street a little ways to what I thought was a pregnancy crisis center. I had driven by this place many times, and thought I remembered seeing that it was a Christian center for unwed mothers. However when I pulled into the driveway, I saw that it was a very small church. Actually it was smaller than any place of business I had seen before. I would say the size of the building was as big as the car wash part to the gas stations that offered a free car wash with the purchase of gas. Yeah, it was that small.
I figured I had gotten the wrong place so I pulled back out of the postage stamp, uh I mean parking lot, and went on further down the street looking for a pregnancy crisis center. I did not find one. So I made a u-turn at a light about a mile away from the original place I was looking at.
“Let me just go take one more look” I said to myself. I did not know exactly what I was going to be looking for, but perhaps I had overlooked something.
As I pulled into the parking lot again, I noticed that there was only one car in the small lot, which was a church van, obviously used to transport the church members from their homes to service. The parking lot was a narrow one, stretching from the front of the tiny building all the way to the back, allowing cars to turn around only in the rear of the lot. My car crept to the back of the building, turned around and went to the front of the building with me turning my head this way and that trying to see if anyone was around. There were no windows on the side or back of the building, so I looked in the windows when I got to the front of the building to see if anyone actually was in there. I stopped the car, and peeked in. All the lights were turned off except for a little Christmas tree lit in the front entry way.
I second guessed myself. I must not have heard correctly. Perhaps I am just going crazy and it really does not matter where this diaper cake is going. I could just give it to anyone and they would be blessed by it. It seems ridiculous to go out in the rain with my young children to this place where no one is even here. I sighed.
“Really?” I asked God.
I looked again at the window to see the service times of the church that were noted. “Open Sundays and Wednesdays.” I saw a phone number under the pastor’s name.

Call them.

Well, I might as well, at least to leave a message and see if anyone actually will be interested in this diaper cake.
I took out my cell phone dialed the number and let it ring. After about 10 rings an answering machine came on with the pastor’s voice. Now I am not going to lie, I do believe there was some type of Barry White music in the background and his voice seriously was the same. I was trying not to giggle as I left the message. Hey, each church is different, and God has a plan and purpose for each one, right? I basically told them who I was and what my company was about and asked if they had a pregnant woman or a woman who just had a baby that could use this cake. I would not expect them to pay money, I was not advertising anything, and wanted to donate anonymously. No strings attached.
After leaving the message I turned to look at the church again. It was small, and different, but God’s Love transcends all differences, right? Although I thought they might not feel the same about me. What if they think I am some weirdo trying to sell them something and not call me back?
Give them until the 24th. If they choose not to accept it, then I will find someone else to give it to, I thought. I put the car in gear and pulled out and drove home.

I did not hear from them the whole month of December. My mind would go back to them every now and then, but the promise I made to myself stuck. I would wait until the 24th, and if they did not accept it, I know God would find someone else to give it to.
Christmas Eve came and interestingly enough, I was to drive to Christmas Eve service with the kids by myself. My husband wonderful man that he is, had to work, and my family would meet me there because it was convenient to take the same car. The day went very smoothly, almost as if in a dream. It was weird, kind of like things were preordained for me, all I had to do was just move.
Church was at 6pm and it takes me about 30 minutes to get to church. I knew I had to be out of the door by 4:45pm to drop off the diaper cake and make it to the church service on time. As I was getting ready thoughts came in my mind about how I didn’t have enough time to do this. That I was just being crazy, and really, I could find someone else to give the diaper cake away to anyhow. After that last thought came in my mind I knew that if I didn’t try to at least deliver this cake, then I would feel guilty about me not doing what I possibly thought was God’s Will. I had to try no matter what.

The kids and I were dressed and ready to go at around 4:30pm. I was shocked, because that never happens. I ushered them outside after saying goodbye to my husband, and gently laid the diaper cake in the back of the car, packed the kids in, and got into the front seat. I prayed.

“God, if this is not Your Will, then please let the place be closed.”

When I pulled out of my driveway and glanced back at the house a joyous feeling came over me. It was out of my hands now, I was doing the right thing. It took me not too long afterward to get to the driveway of the church. Instantly I saw that the usual church van was still parked where it normally stays, and something else… Another car was parked right in front of the building. A light was on in the back of the church.
I pulled up right beside the car, and seeing that no one was in it decided to leave my children in the car, take the keys with me, lock the doors, and walk about 5 feet to the front door. Hey, even though I was right there, it still was a dangerous neighborhood. I didn’t know what or who was around.
The minute I stepped out of the car, I felt instant Peace. I walked up to the front door, and looking to see if the door was locked, my hand grasped the handle ready to feel the door stay stationary. It swung open with ease, almost hitting me in the side of my head. I peeked my head in the door and looked around. I saw one gentleman in the back who glanced up at me and went back to what he was doing.
“Excuse me… sir?” I said while half holding the door open.
“Yes Ma’am.” he said, dropping his work and walking to the front lobby.
I explained again who I was and that I had left a message. He half nodded when I mentioned the message indicating that he indeed got it and remembered me. At that point I thought that perhaps he was the pastor of the church. The whole time I was speaking he looked at me, guarded but not in a threatening way. He was about 6 feet or a little taller, African American man, who’s eyes were a little red, but always intent on what I was saying. His face was full of peace, but there was something else about him that I couldn’t figure out.
I finished telling him the purpose for me being there and again reiterating that I wanted nothing from him or the church. It was a no strings attached kind of giving. To show God’s unconditional love for the women who receive the diaper cakes. There was uncomfortable silence for a few seconds. Then I just blurted out without thinking, “Do you want to see the cake so you know what I am talking about?”
He nodded almost reluctantly. I opened the door I had been half-holding since I did not want to be too far from my children. He motioned for me to go ahead, and I walked out first.
“How did you hear about us?” he asked.
“God led me here.” I said matter of fact pushing the door widely so he could come too and looking at his reaction. He was taken aback by that statement. I glanced back and said as I walked to the car, “You do believe that God speaks to you, right?”

“Oh yeah, yeah most assuredly I do.” he said.
Skeesh, that was the most I had heard him speak since I had begun talking with him.

We went around to the back of the car with the other cars on the heavily trafficked road whizzing by us. As I opened the back door and handed the diaper cake to him, he couldn’t believe it. I could tell by his reaction that it was something he had never seen before and was amazed at it. I explained what was inside the cake, the scriptures on the card, and the purpose again was to show God’s Unconditional Love for the women they go to. He just sat and looked at the cake.
The whole time I was talking to him, he didn’t really say much. It almost looked like he was going to cry, but I wasn’t sure.
“Thank you, thank you very much.” he finally said. “Can I pray with you?”
“Oh yeah, absolutely, “I said eagerly.
He had the diaper cake in one hand and took my hands in his other hand. As he was praying God’s presence was so full and thick that tears streamed down my face. He prayed for things that were encouraging and edifying, and wanting only God to get the glory for the things I was doing. He then started praying for the woman who was to receive the diaper cake. Instinctively I put one hand on the cake and just prayed with him for the woman.
After the man finished praying I gave him a side hug and thanked him, wishing him a Merry Christmas.

Then he started opening up about who he thought might use this cake. I told him that he could just pray about it and whoever God told him to give it to, that it should go to her.
“My wife is pregnant so…” he trailed off quietly.
Without skipping a beat, I looked straight into his eyes for the first time since I met him and said with confidence, “Then maybe this diaper cake is for her.”
He nodded and got quiet again. The look of disbelief on his face and quiet thought, almost as if he was going to cry came over him again.
After a moment more of small talk, I got in the car, closed the door and buckled my seat belt. He waved again at me as he headed inside and I put the car into gear to pull out onto the busy street.
“Thank you Jesus for this moment.” I said, as I pulled out of the driveway. I thought about it and realized that when we were praying for the woman who was to receive the cake, that he was unknowingly praying for his wife. That this whole situation was perfectly planned down to the minute by God. That the timing of this moment was not an accident.

Excited that I got another glimpse of what saying yes to God can do, my heart was so full. But God was not done yet. As I was driving to church my young daughter, son and I sang these lyrics to a song with all of our hearts at the top of our lungs, “Jesus you’re all I want, and I can’t help but sit and cry, cause you give me everything, cause you give me songs to sing, You lift me when I’m down. You are my World.”  I didn’t teach them those lyrics but yet they sang them with all of their hearts, their joyful little faces full of excitement.

And that was one of the best Christmas presents I’ve ever gotten.

Both of my children have been vaccinated. When they got theirs, I had them separate each vaccination for each child, (so instead of getting two at a time they only got one, waited for a month, and then got the other.) YES it cost us more in doctor’s visits, but I wanted to be careful. Quite honestly I was scared to vaccinate my children because of reports of Autism, and other things happening with children and vaccinations. I researched a lot, talked to both pediatricians, and prayed about it. Because of our future plans to do ministry, and possibly sail around the world, I knew that all of our children should have vaccinations at some point.

My daughter had very mild, if no reaction to the vaccinations. My son however had some trouble with them. At first it was a low grade fever, or pain and soreness in his legs, but as he got older and he was getting his fourth “installment” on his shots (Namely DTaP and Prevnar) he had a bad reaction. Oddly enough both reactions happened two weeks after the shots. Nothing else had changed in his diet, or anything else. When it first happened with the DTaP vaccination (his fourth) we went through every possible situation. Perhaps it was poison ivy, or laundry soap. However, we did not find an answer in environmental things. The rash that he got all over his body started on his stomach and rear end, and then moved to his legs, arms and face. Benadryl did not help, just time. He wasn’t hurting, just his body looked like it was swollen and red. The rash lasted for about four to five days, with the 2nd and third days being the worst.

Then it happened again. This time with his Prevnar shot. Two weeks after his shot, the same rash came back. It would get red when he was hot, but lighten if he was out in the cold air. I am certainly convinced that he is allergic to something in those vaccinations.

I post this in hopes that other parents who might be looking for some support if their children have had this happen to them. What I did was call the doctor to let them know what had happened, took pictures and documented when it happened, and had the doctor put those pictures in my child’s file. At least if their are enough complaints or evidence that the vaccinations do cause reactions in certain people that it would be part of the vaccination description, since I do not find in the Prevnar description any type of this reaction (total body rash). Parents should be warned that this could happen.

Also any antihistamine medications did not work on him. What did work is time and some cool baths.  I monitored his temperature. If his temperature had shot up, I would have called the doctor right away. I would have called  if he had difficulty in breathing, or was acting listless or unresponsive to me.

I am NOT a medical doctor. This advice is just what I would do, and should not replace what your doctor tells you. ALWAYS call your doctor first off to check to make sure you are doing the most to help your child. That’s what you pay the doctor for, so CALL them if you are concerned in any way.

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Seriously. This montessori stuff is stretching my brain…in a good way. My beautiful daughter was standing in front of the language shelves a couple days ago, when she picked up the homemade color box. (It was purchased at the dollar store and was colorful and had an interesting shape to it to draw my children’s attention.) She then picked up a metal inset on the shelf above that was the exact same shape.
“Look mommy, it is a…..um….”, looking expectantly at me to say the correct name of the shape.
I gotta tell you, I had no idea what the name of that shape was. Suddenly, flashbacks of my high school geometry class came whirring through my mind. Was it a rhombus? No no, a parallelagram. The disappointing look on my geometry teacher’s face loomed in front of me. Why did I choose to pass notes during class instead of listening to what she had to say? I should have known that 16 years later, I would have to know this stuff when my child would ask it.
Then a light from heaven shone down on the geometric cabinet control sheet. Well, really, it was the light from the closet, but at that point it was the same thing. Slyly I peeked over and found the shape.
“A Trapaziod!” I said confidently.

Now you tell me, would you have gotten that? Oh hush, no one wants to know you were a geometry whiz in high school anyway.

The first two weeks of school FLEW by. The kids are happily engrossed in school work because… well it’s FUN. I see the sense of accomplishment that comes through completing a project without mommy helping them. I also have two children who LOVE to wash the table and dust. Hmmmm, should we advertise for cleaning services yet?
The way we have been going is this:

Prayer
Bonjour Song (we are studying French)
Bible Study/Scripture
Pledge of Allegiance
Free Work Time
Circle Time
Au Revoir Song

The children have been working non stop for an hour and a half to two hours depending. Baby Bear will of course stop and rest, eat a snack or whatever he likes to do and then continue, but my daughter will work staight through. (She is a workhorse just like her mommy!)
BTW, the picture of the apples is my big circle time debacle. I was supposed to cut them in half at their “equators” not the other way. When I did the first one, I tried to get all the seeds out to count them and was thinking that the circle time activity that I got from Montessori Story did not turn out how I expected…. Well, being the smart, ahem, person that I am figured out that I misunderstood the assignment yet again, and cut the second apple CORRECTLY the second time. The original lesson was to point out that the apples were the same on the inside (because they had the same amount of seeds),  no matter what they looked like on the outside, but my lessoned turned into the many ways you can cut an apple. Woops.

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Often doubt comes in my mind about the path I am choosing for my children when it comes to homeschooling. Every time that doubt tries to creep in my mind without fail, something happens to reassure me that indeed I am following God’s Will for these children. This week was no exception.
Noodlebug, who is almost three and a half stepped into her teacher role this week with her little brother, Baby Bear who will be two at the end of the month. While I know the Geometric Solids presentation officially should not occur until they are about three, Baby Bear thrives on imitating his sister and in turn has become quite proficient at an earlier age with most things both mentally and phisically. (Although jumping off of the couch is NOT one of them.)
He had picked up off of the shelves the Geometric Solids basket which had about 5 different solids in it. I usually will let him feel them and name the solids for him if he looks at me expectantly for an answer to what this strange shape is, but I never push him into memorizing them. I marvel at how his little hands will turn the object over and over, sometimes stacking them and experiementing on what will stand up on it’s own, like a cube, and what will roll over, like an ovoid. Too much fun.
But I digress, I was kneeling to Baby Bear’s left and about to name an ovoid, when Noodlebug steps in and starts a three period lesson with him.
“Show me an ovoid….Good. Put the cube in my hand….. Great job. Put the sphere over here. What is this?”
Seriously, I was taken aback. I did not realize that after a short while of actually doing the three period lessons with her, that it would translate to her brother. I could see in her sweet little face the satisfaction from taking on the teacher role with her brother, and actually knowing the names of each solid. After all students teaching other students correctly and finding satisfaction in it and having a new sense of independence  is part of the Montessori philosophy, isn’t it?

I have literally spent months planning for the school year. We are doing Montessori Homeschool with both children ages 23 months and 3 and a half years. We already have begun doing work, but have not started a formal school schedule. So starting August 24th, the 2009-2010 school year will begin for my beautiful children.
So how am I going to do it? As I am looking at that last sentence, I stared at it for about 30 seconds trying to describe what I will do. Prayer, lots of mistakes, I am sure, and spreadsheets. Yeah you heard me, spreadsheets.
I am the queen of all things spreadsheeting. Seriously. At my old job I used to dub that title upon myself because most of my job was sitting at the computer and doing spreadsheets of all kinds for different projects. So why not transfer that knowledge to my “school” Ooooo I like that. My school. Muhahahahah. Oh wait, it really is the children’s school. Sorry I got the look of power and greed and now it is going to my head. Ahem.
I have created spreadsheets for each “Period” that David Gettman’s book describes. We will be going from period one to three, allowing my oldest to guide me as to her interests. These spreadsheets will give me a great basic idea of what work to put out on the shelves, and what to introduce to her each day. I have these spreadsheets taped on the inside wall of the montessori closet with each school week along the side and each activity across the top. I will mark each time she does an activity and then transcribe it to the actual spreadsheet. Then I can make graphs or pie charts to see how my children are prgressing through the year, and put it in their school year notebook. Yes it is complicated, but the mere thought of me creating a bar graph or pie chart is fun for me and really puts that committment level for the kids record keeping at an A+ in my humble and non professional opinion.
I also read and downloaded this wonderful woman’s record keeping ideas here  from The Wonder Years blog. (Did I mention how awesome this blog is??? I still follow it weekly, and use MANY of her idea for both of my children.) This record keeping document is so throrough as well, so I can cross reference my spreadsheet with her document so I can do some of her creative activities. How wonderful is that? With that said, it brings me greater peace to have direction. I don’t feel like I am treading water by myself in a huge ocean of all cool things montessori.
If you would like me to send a spreadsheet please let me know in the comments section and leave your email address. Also let me know what version of excel you are using. I have the fancy shmancy version of excel (2007), so let me know if you want me to convert it to 97-2003 workbook. After three years of all movies Pixar/Disney, I am feeling pretty good about my computer speak!

We have a very small house. If a realtor were trying to sell our house they would say it was cozy or has a cottage feel to it. In reality, our house has two bedrooms, a kitchen, a family room and one and a half bathrooms. Needless to say we have no spare rooms to set up a montessori classroom. But as many of you know I am very creative when I need to be. We have a large walk in closet, (about 7 feet by 4.5 feet), that is downstairs and used for storage. I laugh as I am reading these measurements, because this closet is bigger than our second bathroom. I guess it shows the priority the previous homeowner who designed the downstairs. Yikes. 
Anyhow, I cleared out the closet and my husband built shelves for storage and montessori work. I should do a disclaimer if you are going to do this: Always put up MORE shelves then you think you need. My poor husband had to go back to HD four times in a two month period because I kept realizing I needed another shelf to put more work for the children on. Thanks Honey for your patience!
So the shelves are up, now what? I had researched that you should seperate each of the montessori work into sections. Since we are concentrating on Sensorial, Practical Life, Language, and Culture this year, I needed four different sections. Double Yikes. How in the world in such a small space, will I accomplish this? Since I had three  seperate areas I had to “share space” with two areas. How I differentiated each subject was by putting a certain colored non-skid mat at the bottom of the trays for the activities. Green=sensorial, white=language, tan=practical life, blue=culture. As you can see in the pictures it really helps differentiate each section. Of course no plan is fool proof. I do have the brown stair smack dab in the middle of the practical life section, but I am sure Dr. Montessori will forgive me.
Also, when I do the official tour of the closet, ahem I mean classroom, I will name each section. When we do our ’secret walk’ at the end of the day to make sure things are put back properly, I will also name the sections to reinforce that there indeed is a specific organization to their learning area.
Here are some pictures so you can get an idea. Yes I KNOW the Pink Tower is crooked. I knocked part of it over while taking pictures. Hey, there really isn’t a lot of space in there!

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So it has come to that time where I have had to go through all of my posts and change the kid’s names and take out the pictures. YES, I am getting more traffic to this blog, especially since I started blogging about Montessori Homeschool. So to all of my personal family and friends I will send some pics or do private blogs for your viewing pleasure, and continue to blog about montessori homeschool, and everyday life in the Byrds Nest. When you guys comment, I would appreciate you leaving my husband’s name and children’s name out of the messages just so thier identities can remain private. Man, I sound so serious, now I need to blog about something funny. It’s been awhile since I have had a funny post, huh?

Are dust bunnies funny? Perhaps a good message on dust bunnies would lighten the mood.

I have been a “Christian” all my life. I was raised in an Episcopalian church. My parents served heavily in that church, and so did I. I knew all the prayers, I acolyted, and was in the church choir at times. Looking back on my life, because I am so very old now *with mock humor* I have seen a pattern in my relationship with God. So far there has been three main steps that I went through to get to where I am now. Well to be truthfully honest to get to where I am trying to be.

The Guilt Driven Relationship
Man oh man I have a phd in this one. I have lived most of my life in the guilty-Christian attitude. You know the one where going to church is a have to instead of a want to? Living this way really made me dislike myself and being a Christian. Why feel so guilty all the time when I wanted to go to the bar, smoke a cigarette, or party all night? “Just stop being a Christian, Sarah, it really doesn’t matter”, was what I would hear in my mind. All that pressure of guilt because I wasn’t living my life “right” piled on and piled on until I couldn’t take it anymore. It was horrible, and I blamed God for it. I know so many people that have lived or are living this way right now. It stinks, and it is NOT the way God wants us to view him.
I heard one of my pastors say this the other day: “GOD IS NOT A TASKMASTER.” Seriously he said that and although the word taskmaster is a word that makes me thing of Charlton Heston in the Ten Commandments, it still rings true. Stop feeling like you have to live or be a certain way in order to enjoy Jesus. God never intended us to be perfect for us to step into a relationship with Him and give our lives to Him. After you do so you will find that those other addictions will be distasteful to you, suddenly partying until 4:00 in the morning really won’t sound so fun. God ended up being my strength to overcome so many vices. All of that stuff I was doing would soon be cleaned out of my life (And still is!) because I choose to say yes to God everyday instead of running from Him.

The Service Driven Attitude
Do I love to serve in the House of God or what?! At one point after joining our church I was serving in about 5 ministries at once. I LOVED it. I was in the mix of things, praying for people, and loving every minute of it. Everytime someone would ask me to do something for the church “YES!” would always be my answer. It felt so good to be a part of something big and needed by other people and helping others get fed by Christ. However, I was forgetting one tiny detail. I wasn’t getting fed myself. I got so caught up in the serving part of being a Christian that I forgot the relationship part of being a Christian: mine and God’s! After awhile of not really sitting in service and enjoying the message, taking time out to spend with God every day, and pray with Him, my life felt really…..dry. I got back into the rut of having to do things. My fervor for follwing what God wanted me to do felt like a have to not a want to. I felt drained, used and unhappy.

The Passionate Relationship
As I was doing a Beth Moore bible study, I read her words in regards to how she felt about Jesus. I thought, “This woman has such a passion for Jesus.” Seriously the words that she types about God’s Son are with such fervor and excitement, it is like she is a new Christian. It is awesome and contagious. As I was sitting there that evening my eyes kept reading that passage over and over.
This is from her Bible Study:Jesus The One and Only. I hope this isn’t infringement issues, but I have to type out what she says here about a passionate relationship with Jesus. “Don’t confuse a passionate relationship with God an unrealistic state if perpetual chill bumps. I’m talking about the meshing of two lives, yours and Christ’s, increasingly engulfing and igniting the whole of heart, soul, mind, and strength. God is more than anxious to give you a heart full of fire for His Son. Tell Him you want it more than blessing or your daily bread.”
To ask God to have passion for Jesus more than any blessing he could give you or and food, water, or shelter you could ever want is truly wanting a passion for Jesus. I wanted that. I wanted that passion again. I had been feeling so dry in my relationship with God. I would force myself to do bible study, sometimes prayer would be hard for me even though I knew it was something God called me to do. I was drowning again in myself.

That passion was the true key to my relationship with God, so I have been praying for it ever since.
Lord, no matter what I am doing, or where I am, please let me have a passion for You and Your purpose that will never leave me. Bless me with that passion more than any blessing You could give me or my family, bless me with that passion more than providing our daily bread. Help me love others the way You want me to, and help others to truly know how loved they are and how much they are worth in Your Precious Eyes.
In Jesus Mighty Name. Amen!

Only my sister will understand that inside joke. (It is from the movie Drop Dead Gorgeous, so watch it and you’ll get the line.) Anyhoo, I have been doing montessori cutting activities with Noodlebug for quite some time. I read this post from the Wonder Years blog a couple days ago, and decided to print out the little cutting strips for Noodlebug to use. These were different than what we had been doing before, quite frankly I just used strips of paper and drew the lines on there for her, but these seemed much neater and organized. More pleasing to my eye anyway! I worked hard at printing these cutting strip templates out on construction paper that I had to trim to fit inside the printing tray, and then cut around the template, cut each individual strip, and lay them in neat piles in the little container I provided for storage. There was the Montessori work all set up just like the picture in the Wonder Years blog. Cutting strips, scissors, nice tray, and hot pink envelopes to put the leftover pieces in since my child is crazy for pink and purple. I left the work on the shelf for her to choose any time she did her school work.

I had mommy’s night out that night so my husband got to do school time with the kids that evening. When I came back I peeked into the school closet to get something. There was her cutting work, all nice and neat. The only issue was that the envelopes were cut into strips and the cutting strips were left in the box.

I think she misunderstood the assignment.