busy busy times

Well, its been almost a month since I've updated here. I guess I should give some background on all that has happened.

As I said in my last post, I hit my head pretty hard and had a pretty decent concussion from it. Well, It took me a couple weeks before the headaches became manageable, I'm still having some headaches from it and even after this long I have tenderness and some swelling where I hit my head.

Also, I started meds back in June for my severe ADHD. Now, if you know me really well, you probably know that I'm pretty close to non-functional because of my ADHD. So, I started meds and it really helps a lot. I am able to focus for a couple minutes now, and I can actually hold a coherent conversation. Another plus of the medicating is that I don't have as much of a problem with getting words out when I'm talking. I think a small part of my problem with this has been that my brain worked faster than my mouth can, so then it gets into overload and I just start saying "uh uh uh" until I get frustrated and just throw out a really obscene word or phrase.

Another fun thing that has happened here is that I started college classes almost 2 weeks ago. I am VERY proud of my 97.77% grade and have worked hard to keep it in that range. Hopefully I can continue to keep my grades up like this for the rest of my classes. However, it was a very difficult transition for me. I am not used to having assigned devotional studies to do each week. I was raised in an athiest home and attended secular schools for my entire life. I have always been a free studier when it comes to my daily devotionals, I just pray a bit then I grab my bible and flip until something catches my eye and I read it and journal how it applies to my life and what I can take from it to apply to current and/or past events and possible future events. I've never been much of one to sit and read a specific passage and then think about how it applies to specific questions I'm asked by the instructor. This has been quite possibly the hardest thing for me, next to being able to get the time I need to seriously think and work on my assignments without being interrupted by constant phone calls or by kids wanting/needing me.

As far as the homeschool front goes for the kids, we are still on summer break here. According to OHVA, our OLS will be updated with our new course materials on the 16th so we've been just hanging out and enjoying our time off. I have a full round of dentist cleanings scheduled for all 4 kids in Columbus on the 25th, and Kimberly starts Head Start in September 4 mornings a week. Also, we are required to start logging attendance on August 25th for OHVA with the 2 oldest kids, and I'm considering signing up Jordan for Head Start in September if they have any openings for a 3 year old when she turns 3 on September 3rd, purely for the sake of being able to spend 4 mornings a week really focusing on homeschool with the oldest 2 kids. But then, we've also considered withdrawing Kimberly and just letting her start on some K work at home instead of sending her off to preschool. She has learned all her letter sounds this summer, and we are starting to blend and work on beginning to read simple words. I have a copy of "Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons" and she's been doing it. Right now we're just taking it slow, I did lesson 1 in the reading this week and now we're working on the sounds writing part. I'm thinking I may end up having to just do the reading portion and ignore the written work, just working on individual letters as she learns them for printing. After all, she is only 4 1/2 so we have time.

For Scott, we got exciting news that will completely change the dynamic of our home. The optical lab he works at got contracts for Medicaid from 2 additional states this month, so starting in the very near future (I think on Monday) there will be a lot more mandatory overtime. This means that we get all our income back, and then some, so we can start working at paying off our debts again to get back on track like we should be. I know that isn't a big deal to some, but for us it is a big deal considering his hours got cut back so badly that we ended up having to go down and get food stamps just so that we could feed our family for a while. I am REALLY looking forward to being able to tell them that we no longer qualify, because this will mean that we've done something good for ourselves. We want to make our financial situation so that we never have to apply again, even when we DO qualify for the aid. We want to be completely NOT dependent on the government for anything, and having to take the food stamps has really been painful especially for me. But it has given me a valuable lesson in not being so quick to judge others who are on assistance because you truly don't always know the whole story. I know that many people who look at my family would think that we manipulate the system because we are well-dressed, own a house, and have decent vehicles instead of renting a dump apartment in the ghetto, wearing ratty raggedy clothes, and having a beat up ugly car that doesn't run half the time. Having this lesson has really helped me to understand better about others and showing a little more grace to those in need. I just wish I didn't have to learn it sitting in the welfare office, by having a caseworker who was rude to me while I did the interview for food stamps because I was wearing my favorite red heels and dressed nicely and I'm a stay-at-home mom who homeschools instead of putting them in daycare and school so I can work. It really is an eye-opening experience, and I'm hoping that I can carry it with me as a valuable lesson learned for the rest of my life, as a reminder that we don't always know the full situation around something.

But that's pretty much it. We've been enjoying summer break, I've been recovering nicely from my head injury, and I started college. Hopefully I can update more after school starts for the kids with a great report on how our homeschool days go for us with me in college fulle time and Scott working what may as well be a second job with all the overtime he's going to be getting.