Luv'N Lambert Life

A blog about living with Epilepsy, IBHS, Homeschooling and so much more

life

Beginning March Update: March 2018 {Thoughts From Me}

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March has come in quickly.  I can hardly believe it’s already the 6th!  It was just February.

This month brings lots of reviews.  Things from the Crew and lots of other places.  Great books from great authors we love to read!

I spent last week gathering a menu for the month.  I haven’t done one in quite a while.  32 days to get us through to next month.  Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Snack since we are homeschoolers and we’re home all day most days.

My biggest challenge is always feeding the picky eaters and keeping up with who eats what and how they prefer certain foods.  Laycie isn’t a bread lover.  Jack doesn’t like variety.  Win’s least favorite is veggies.  Emma doesn’t eat cabbage and has recently decided she’s not a fan of toast.

This month provides some fun for our menu though.  We will eat mostly Irish meals the week of St. Patrick’s Day.  We also have Easter on April 1st so I chose the plan to include that as well.  Lots of variety and fun new foods to try.

Last night, we had Pigs In A Blanket with brats instead of hot dogs.  We’ve cut out hot dogs a lot because of the processing of them and switched to sausage when we can.  They were good but not a favorite for us this time.

I’m still writing.  I’m also diving into our ancestry which is fun.  It’s been awesome seeing who we’re all related to and just how unique our family truly is.  The kids have enjoyed the lessons as well.  I hope so share more on this in the future.

I’m feeling better, health and energy wise.  I think it shows.  Healthier me will bring more time to work online as well as get out and do more.  I’m looking forward to taking photos again and sharing more of those here on our little blog.

Well, that is us, for now.

Until next time…
Dana

Cold and Spring {Thoughts From Me}

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It’s been cold here in the South.  And being the Southern Belle that I am, I simply despise the cold.  Rain, sleet, ice, snow… all of that stuff is not for me!  I prefer the warmth of the Sun, the hot sand on the beach or a nice walk up a mountain trail.

This cold has been keeping us in.  Along with the huge Flu outbreak.  No one’s got time for that mess!

Thankfully (and knock on wood!) the Flu has not found our house and I hope greatly that it won’t.  We have had the sniffles this week and sinus headaches which tells me that Mother Nature is sending Spring on the way!  This is the side of Spring that I do not enjoy.

But I do look forward to butterflies and bees and birds, to walking trails and seeing things we’ve never seen before.  I look forward to all the awesome weekend events we will be able to participate in very soon.  Field Trips are a homeschoolers DREAM!  Learning at it’s finest!

So I’m excitedly looking forward to Spring and all the new beginnings that it brings us in our new home.  I look forward to bonding together while camping and making smores by the campfire again.  I’m looking forward to fishing and seeing my husband catch the “big one” somewhere we’ve never fished before.  I’m looking forward to learning new things, seeing new sights and enjoying these years that I have left before my children are grown and ready to move on.

Until next time…

Dana

Life Unexpected: Our Story {Thoughts From Me}

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Two years ago this week, my life changed for the absolute better.  I took a trip to see a friend, who’s family I had known for 25 years and yet I’d never met him.  I didn’t expect to find in him the man of my dreams, the man who was equally yoked to my soul, the man who I had searched for all of my life.  A year ago, I wrote about our meeting, our day, our beginning and I’ve decided I would share it here as well.

On this Sunday last year, I took my first semi-long driving trip alone up into the rural lower part of NC. I was invited to visit a friend who’s family I have known and loved for 25 years but I had never personally met him. I got up early and headed out to have the most peaceful and relaxing day I can remember having in my life.
We hung out all day and never stopped talking. He made me the best omelet for breakfast. He made me lunch. He fed me watermelon grown from his garden. And we had baked chicken that he also made for dinner.
He fell in love with me the moment he laid eyes on me that day and I him. I can still remember seeing him that first time and that big smile he gave me. I remember feeling warm and loved when he talked to me with that Connecticut accent that’s turned just slightly southern from his years of going back and forth between his Northern and Southern homes. It was this day that I fell in love with Donald Clayton Hodge.
He tells me I have been in his dreams for a lifetime. He loves me like no one ever has. He’s stood by me through emotional abuse in my past and has moved me into a much better life.
This year has been hell in healing for us both. Our lives have changed tremendously and though it’s been tough, it’s also been completely for the better. Neither of us are perfect and there’s a lot that isn’t seen unless you know us personally, but one thing we do have is a love of God, each other and our family. We support each other, even on days when we want to just give up. We love each other always and we know that together with God we can make it through even the darkest of days.
Thank you, Don, for loving me and showing me a life that I can dream about and make reality. Thank you for loving my children and even my stubborn mother. Thank you for putting up with so much this year and for even changing your own ways to make a better life for us together. I love you with all my heart and this day will be the one I always cherish, that will always be our anniversary in my heart.

I never expected that I’d marry this man, that I’d want to spend my life with him.  I never expected that he’d love me and my children just as much.  I never expected this life to be ours. God had plans we could not have foreseen but here we are living this life together and the best has yet to come.

There are blessings where we least expect them.

Yours always,
Dana

Moving on from being stalked… {Thoughts From Me}

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Over the last few months, I find myself wanting to write less and less.  I used to greatly enjoy sharing with my friends online but I find that I am becoming less willing to share and less willing to allow myself to be “seen” through my presence online.  Being stalked by others and having that information, that really had nothing to do with the person using it against you, used against you, makes you think about every step you take.

Our life has moved forward to this, but I find when I go to write things now, I think of how that person who stalks me may use it against me in the future.  I think about the ignorance of this person and how they thought they were achieving something by bringing my life to the forefront, even though my life is an open book through my public persona.  Still I find myself doubting my writing because of their personal interpretation of what’s here.

Should this person and the others like her take so much of my happiness from me?  No and day to day they don’t.  It’s only when I come here to share that I’m stopped in my tracks.

The only way to overcome it is to keep writing, to get myself back on track and to continue to be the me I have always been.  I started this blog in 2009 and I continue to share here.  I want others to know our story.  I enjoy helping Momma’s like me who can relate to our struggles daily, even to the stalkers we face.

It’s a joy to have this job, to share this with all of you.

Many blessings,
Dana

Education That’s Fascinating! {Crew Review}

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When Fascinating Education came up on the Homeschool Review Crew VIF list, I wasn’t sure it was one I wanted to do.  But Emmalee had just mentioned that she’d like to learn Biology for her coursework with school, so it was sort of perfect timing.  We were chosen to review Fascinating Biology and I can say she really likes this program.
About the Company’s Products:
Fascinating Education is an online website which provides online courses for Science education.  The website offers educational programs for Chemistry, Biology, Physics and even a course for Medicine (I look forward to using this one with Laycie).  These aren’t your average textbook studies either.  The programs are written in plain English, easy to understand by all and the lessons are kept relatively short so that students don’t lose interest in what they are learning about.
The courses cover the standard topics that most high school courses cover.  This was great for us, as I can count this as a high school education program towards her achievements for her diploma.  This was one of her goals for the school term this year.
About the Course:
Fascinating Biology covers the world of Biology.  Biology is defined as the study of living organisms or life.  Through Biology we are taught how organism exist, work, live, and so much more.
Fascinating Biology follows the average course outline for Biology.  It begins with creation of life, breaking it down and showing you how to recognize living things.  Then  you move into learning about Molecules and their purpose, as well as how they work.  Next students learn about cell structure and how that works, followed by how nutrients are processed.
There is a long section on Energy and how it works in various ways. Then we learn to grow and reproduce, then later to adapt.  Students learn about animals and fungi and finally plants before the courses end.
More About The Course:
The course opens with all the modules provided on the webpage.  There are 18 complete lessons in all, with review and mild testing included in the coursework.  There is Lesson, a Script and a Test for each lesson module.  The scripts are PDF form so that they are easily printed and viewed by your student.  They are fully imaged and provide thorough information on the particular lesson you are learning about.
Clicking on the lesson image or the word lesson below the image, brings up the video created for the specific part of the course that you’re working on.  These videos are information packed and easy to follow.  They are a great asset to learn from.
Finally, the tests.  The tests are interactive and easy to complete.  They review the information covered in the course and ensure the student is staying on track in their lessons.
How We Used It:
So this review was chosen for Emmalee, who is 14, very scientific and interested in any and everything she can learn about people, places, plants and animals.  As I mentioned already, she specifically requested a Biology course for this year and well this one popped up just in time.
Along with this review, we were also given access to a mini-course in Chemistry which covered basics Emma needed to know before beginning this Biology course.  She completed this fairly quickly and was able to dive on into Biology.
She really enjoyed learning with the videos and she didn’t mind the tests, as Emma is a person who enjoys seeing solid evidence that she’s learning and testing provides that for her.  It’s a challenge for her.
Emma is still working on this course.  We’ve had a lot of bad weather which makes our internet sketchy so she’s had to take more time than we would have liked but she was also able to work at a slower pace, work around the internet issues and not be behind in the course work since it is a self-paced program.  That’s something that was particularly nice overall.

Where Can You Buy Fascinating Biology:
You can find Fascinating Biology on the Fascinating Education Website.  The courses are all online.
Click the Banner Below To Read More Reviews:

Biology, Chemistry & Physics {Fascinating Education Reviews}

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