Have Fun when Homeschooling

My kids say day 5 has to be about one  of their favorite ways to learn.  This involves simply helping mommy.  Yeah I know it surprised me too, but it's true.  Kids love to mimic their parents, they love to do what mommy and daddy do and nothing makes them happier than a pat on the back and a well done.

Some people think that parents just know this, that it comes simply with having children, but it doesn't.  And of course you don't have to be a homeschooler to do this, but a lot of our extra school hours come from the kids simply helping. By helping they learn.

Here is a for instance.  You can use home ec as a credit.  Let's say cooking is our first credit.  You also learn fractions by cooking.  You can learn fractions by eating(yummy piece of pie).

Case in point.  My kids learned a great science lesson today by playing outside with bricks, a wooden toy box, and a long piece of wood(2 x 4).  What did they learn?  They learned about balancing objections.  They learned about fulcrums, weights, and how to move your fulcrum to balance unequal loads.  They build this experiment on their own and each time I gave them a new problem they figured it out.  They learned more in half an hour of play than they would in a month through a textbook. This will stick with them, this was fun.  This was play with mommy and was so sweet for all of us.

The only thing I sometimes wonder is how something so fun can actually count for school!  But they say it can and it does, so we're going to keep at it!

So I guess what I'm saying is incorporate school into your everyday life.  Your kids are learning and growing and having fun while doing it.  Make sure you praise your children.  Don't sweat it if they are not the best at math or struggle at reading.  Instead of showing your frustration make a big deal out of the word they did sound out right or the letter sound they remembered perfectly.

People often ask me how I have the patience to homeschool my crew.  Really I don't.  I have never had a lot of patience.  I struggle daily to make sure I don't lose my patience with my kids.  What helps me remember to keep going and keep striving for that patience is the way their faces light up when they do finally get the concept after we've both worked so hard to get there!  That is all the reward I need and the encouragement to keep going and keep loving them through it all.

You can view my other days by the links below and make sure to check up on what the other blogs are doing by using the button below.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5 

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Keeping the Younger Ones Occupied During School

If you are like me and homeschool multiple grade levels and all of them are at the lower end you might find it difficult to keep everyone on track.  Right now I'm schooling with a 2 month old, a 2 year old, and a 3 year old who are not really in school yet.  I'm doing some preschool work with the 2 and 3 year old, but nothing that is going to keep them busy for the entire time that the older kids are doing school.  So how do you keep them busy without them disrupting the schooling or becoming a distraction or getting into things they shouldn't?

I want my girls to be involved in school, and even my two boys in kindergarten get done before the 1st and 2nd graders.  I don't want them to have to just sit and listen as that gets them into trouble and distracts the older children.  But I also don't want them to just be playing.  The first year of homeschooling I was homeschooling 4 in preschool and had 2 running around. . . oh and I was pregnant!  Yikes that year was interesting, but I have learned quite a bit since then!

Now let me share a list of 5 things to use to help keep your younger kids busy and learning while not distracting from your older kids. 

1) Coloring pages!  My young ones do coloring pages daily.  Each day they get a new letter, whether it is a capital letter or a lower case letter that way they are becoming familiar with their letters and learning some.  We also choose a color for the day and they have to use some form of that color to shade their letter.  My kids think this is fun and are always excited to see who gets to choose the color for the day.

2)  Next we do a picture a day.  I tell them what they need to draw and then they draw it.  It doesn't always look like what I tell them(okay so very rarely can I tell even slightly what it is supposed to be) but it keeps them occupied and also helps them learn how to use their fingers and hold the crayon correctly.

3)  They get to make a book and then read it to either me or one of the older siblings who is done with their work.  I give them one or two pages of paper that I've cut into four squares.  This becomes their book.  They draw pictures and then tell us what the pictures are. It helps with their language and I love watching their imaginations at work! 

4)  Next we practice fine motor skills.  We play with blocks or legos!  This is fun and can keep them occupied for hours but also helps them to progress mentally and physically.  I think playing with blocks is one of the best things you can do to prepare children for school!

5)  Another fun thing when they are getting restless is that I get each of them a notebook to start the year with.  They write in their book daily.  Sometimes I help them write an actual letter but most of the time they just write in their own little languages and while doing this work on holding their pencil correctly.

I must be doing something right because my 2 year old can count to 15 before she starts having problems, knows all her colors, most of her letters, and can do some simple addition just by being part of school with her older siblings.  This is also how my two kindergartners have learned most of what they know.  Not because of books and having to do workbooks and course work, but was listening and seeing.  It is amazing how quickly little ones can understand and learn.  Their little minds pick things up so fast!  I love watching them learn and grow!

Keep your eyes peeled as I'm working on a post about the curriculum we're using this year as well as the last 2 days of our journey through the 5 Days of Homeschooling with Multiple Littles!

You can view my other days by the links below and make sure to check up on what the other blogs are doing by using the button below.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5 

Shared on:  Simply Living Wednesdays, Homemaking Link Up, Modest Monday, Wildcrafting Wednesday, Proverbs 31 Thursdays,   Pin It Now!

Monumental-My thoughts

Picture of Kirk Cameron from the Monumental Facebook Page

Wow.  Yeap one word says so much.  This movie is one that you need to watch a few times to help soak up all the information.

I will start by saying that I do know quite a bit about history as my family has always been big into history(we reenact the Civil War after all and my dad also has a major in history) so I did know some of the facts that Kirk Cameron shared in the movie.  There were however, things that I had not heard about or not heard much about.  The places that were shown in the film were wonderful.  It truly made me want to hop on a plane(I've never flown so that's saying a lot) and go see all these historical places.

I am once again convicted that we need to take over educating our children.  I am a homeschooling mommy.  I teach my children from the Bible and the history books.  We as parents need to be the ones teaching our children in the way we want them to grow up, we need to make sure they know the truth.

The movie talked of a statue that is in Massachusetts.  This statue is very large and lovely and depicts what our country is based on.  You should watch the movie if for no other reason than to hear them explain how the statue exemplifies what our country was based on and should once again be based on.

These are the jumbled thoughts I have for now.  Once I have had more time to process all the information, I may have more to share with you.

Please take a moment to check out the Monumental Movie Facebook page.  Feel free to ask questions on their page and make sure to watch the movie so you can form your own opinions.
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A Blur

My life these past few days seems to be a blur.  Let me correct myself, its been quite the past week really.  My husband is preparing to go to a national Civil War Reenactment and will be gone for a week.  So, we are quite busy around here getting him ready to go.  We have also had friends come and stay with us to help get the horses in shape for their part of the reenactment.

My husband is a cavalry commander and supplies mounts for several of our troopers.   He will be taking four horses of our with him, but they shall be in a semi trailer along with all the other horses in our cavalry brigade.  I must boast a bit here and say that he is taking one of my horses, a beautiful gray named Suzie Q(well her papers say her name is Lucy Scotchette, but that is another story)!

So I'm sorry that I haven't been posting my devotionals as I do them, but I promise to get caught up while he is away for his week.  I hope to have other interesting articles to put up.  I've been working on several posts about some units we've done in our little homeschool.  We have already done the 10 commandments and the days of creation.  Right now we are doing a short study on Easter that I can't wait to share.  If I could only get all that we do put down on paper it would help. 

I am a scheduler.  I like to have things on a schedule, but with my husbands change of shifts for work and this trying to get ready for an event, my schedule has gone out the window.  I am trying my best to get everything back to rights, so please stay with me!

My first guest post in a series of several for another blog is scheduled for Monday, so look for my post to direct you over to her blog.  I will be guest posting on eco friendly things such as cloth diapers, cloth mama pads and nursing pads.  I will also include some other things of interest to me.  I hope you'll enjoy hopping over to her blog to read my posts.

On a last note I have to share this picture of our youngest.  Her shirt just says it all!  Add in that look on her face and it's  a priceless moment and reminds me why schedules are my guide, but also why they often take a back seat to having fun with my babies. . . . .like our morning of playing in the mud.

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Guest Post

I am truly blessed to be able to do a guest post for My Freshly Brewed Life!  I shared my bread recipe as well as some facts on the flours I used in the recipe.  I hope you'll all hop on over there to read my post!  I have enjoyed linking up to My Freshly Brewed Life's Fresh Brewed Sunday's. 

She is doing a series of guest posts allowing other bloggers to come in and share recipes and healthy living tips a few times a week.  I think this is a wonderful idea and I had fun writing my post.  Let me know what you think.

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Good articles to Read!

I recently found this really good article about 80 uses for Coconut Oil and had to share.  If you haven't noticed I use coconut oil in a lot of my recipes.  It's actually really good for you.  If you've never tried it before you should pick up a jar and give it a try.  Here are a lot of other things you can use it for.

Another article that I read and wanted to share was 15 quick cleaning tips.  It contains 15 clean ups that you can quickly do to help make your house look nicer and more presentable to your husband when he comes home from work.  Some of these don't work so well for me as they take longer than she says with all the kids, but still really good tips here at the Growing Home blog.
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Essential Oils

My favorite oil is Lemongrass.  I love the smell, and I love how it makes me think of clean when I smell it.  It's no wonder then that I love to add this oil to my cleaning solutions!  I have found a great list of recipes for cleaning solutions using essential oils over at The Homemakers Challenge.  They are also hosting a giveaway for one lucky person to win some essential oils.  Make sure you go here to enter to win.

I am not responsible for picking the winner or involved in this giveaway at all. Pin It Now!

1 John 4:10

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Love-what is love?  I decided to look this up in a dictionary.  I used Merriam Webster on line and came up with several definitions.  The one that made the most sense in this setting was definition

          #4: a: unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another: as (1): the fatherly 

                     concern of God for humankind (2): brotherly concern for others

Okay, so now we know that love is unselfish and benevolent.  I can hear people now asking what benevolent is(I've been teaching kids today so lots of questions).  So I again turned to Merriam Webster online for a definition.

          1a: marked by or disposed to doing good b: organized for the purpose

                of doing good

So, God loves us in such a way that he is loyal to us and concerned about us and wants to do good by us.  So, can we say that God only wants the best for us?  I think so.  Can we also say that God has our best interests at heart when He allows things to happen?  Maybe He allowed something to go wrong with our vehicle so we could miss being in an accident.

I love God.  I love that He came to earth as Jesus and died for my sins so that I would not have to spend eternity in hell.  It is hard to express the deep emotions that are stirred up by the thought of all that God has done for me and continues to do for me in my daily life.

Photo taken on a trip to the zoo this January. 

I love these colorful birds.

Look at how fast his wings were moving in flight.

God created those wings and knew just how to make them, how to shape each feather to help him achieve that flight.  How great a  God we serve!

 

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Homemaking Link up

I've linked up with these guys and would love for you to go and check out some of the great posts. 

Some I read and liked were:

Bath time Bible Verse such a cute idea!
Wearing Skirts in Winter loved the article and new follower of this great blog! Pin It Now!

Beets for Food Coloring

I'm not a fan of using food coloring.  I really don't like all the artificial dyes, so I've started trying to find natural dyes.  A great dye for red is beets.

First you will need some fresh beets.  Cut off the tops(you can use those for other things) and the tails; then peel the beets.

Place the beets in a baking dish lined with aluminum foil. 

Cover the beets with the aluminum foil so that it is all sealed.

Bake for 60 minutes and uncover to see the lovely cooked beets.

Let cool, then puree.  You can use a food processor if you have one or a blender.  You can  even use a potato masher!

And voila you have instand food coloring.  I have used it in some Valentine's treats.
Valentine Sugar Cookies
Red Velvet Cupcakes
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Great article

I wrote a post before about Body Image and how society and the media has changed what we view as the "ideal" woman's body.  I read a good article today on Madame Deals site.  It was written by a nurse who herself suffered from an eating disorder of sorts as a child.  She talks of little girls age 8 even who are already having troubles with eating and saying they are fat!  This means my daughters could be doing this already as my oldest just turned 7.  I cannot even imagine going through this with my daughters.  I hope that I am able to instill in them that they are perfect the way they are because that is the way that God made them and God does not make mistakes. 

I borrowed this picture from the article  as I really liked it and thought it went very well with the topic.  I hope everyone can help us start to make society rethink what the media is teaching our little girls.  Pin It Now!

Psalm 84:11

Psalm 84:11

“For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”

This verse was in my reading this morning.  I wasn't quite sure how to read it and the way its speaks to me is very different than what I'm used to.  Anyone else have any thoughts on this verse?  Please read what I have to say about it and then let me know what you think of it or how it speaks to you.

First, my focus locked in on the word sun.  God is sun.  Think about that.  It makes sense, not in the God shines brightly sense but in the sense of God is the light of the world.  He really is the sun and the Son.  He brings light to a world of darkness(sin).  He saved us from the darkness.  The darkness flees when the (sun)Son comes up.

Next, God is a shield.  God shields us from things that might harm us.  He protects us from the devil and from the world.  He wraps himself around us so that instead of us being struck He takes the blows for us.  With God we can be living in the world but not of the world because we are within Him.  I for one am glad for His protection.  I am glad that I can call on Him whenever where-ever.  I am so glad that He is MY God.  I can think of many times when I'm doing something and realize I cannot do it alone and call on Him and know that He is there right beside me helping me to do what I could not do alone.

"the Lord will give grace and glory" This didn't reach out and grab me like the rest of the verse did.  It did say to me that without the grace of God I would be nothing.  Without His saving grace all we are, are sinners doomed to hell.  The glory part threw me for a loop because I've always felt WE should be the ones who were giving the glory to God, not God giving us glory.  What do you think about this part of the verse?

The last part of the verse talks about how God will not withhold anything good from those that walk uprightly.  If we walk with God He will not keep the blessings from us.  As long as we are walking with Him He will give us what we need and give us things that are good.  Now, I didn't say we're going to get everything that we want or think we need.  I didn't say that we would always be happy or have everything, but we will have GOOD.  God is good, we will always have God.  God will be with us which means that the devil will not. 

God has given me a lot of good.  To me good corresponds with blessings.  I have been blessed beyond my expectations.  I have 8 beautiful children who love life and each other.  I have a husband whom I love and who loves me.  I could go on and on about the ways God has blessed me, but these are a few.  See photo below for a sneak at some of my blessings.

This little blessing was helping to take presents to her big sister at her birthday party yesterday.

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God's Blessings

Today I spent a lot of time in reflection over the last 7 years since it was my daughters birthday and she turned seven.  So much has happened in those years.  It got me to thinking, how much of all that has happened have I stopped to thank God for?  How many times have I really said "Thank you God"?  Oh yes of course we pray before meals and at bedtime,etc, but we're to pray without ceasing.  I do a lot of praying, but today I was really thinking about how many thankful prayers have I sent to God over the years.  I'm sure whatever the number it's only a small fraction of what it should be.  So I'm going to list a few thankfuls here.

God has blessed me abundantly.  Today here are a few of the blessings I saw and thanked God for.  I am going to consciously try to remember to thank God throughout my days for all the blessings He pours forth on us.  What about you?  What blessings has God given you lately?  Even when everything seems dark around us, there is a blessing waiting to be found.

My ornery curious baby girl who knows no fear.

The sweet smiles and squeals of joy of babies swinging.

Children at play.

A girl so full of life that God has given me the privilige of mothering. Pin It Now!

Reviews

I am going to be doing some personal reviews soon.  These reviews will be of my own opinion and I am not being compensated for them, and in the most part the manufacturers/companies do not know that I am doing reviews as they have not asked that of me.  I will always specify if I am being compensated or receiving any product for free.

That being said, be on the look out for a review on the Scentsy warmer and scent of the month every month.  I am a Scentsy consultant, but I do NOT receive the products for free.  I do however normally receive the scent of the month due to my subscriptions which I pay for.  So, I will review how I feel they smell and whether I highly recommend them or not.  January will be coming this week and then I will do February(yeap I've already got it!). 

As I have mentioned before I am a member of a few buying clubs or coops.  These are UNFI(United) and Azure Standard.  I also am able to buy from Frontier through my UNFI coop.  I will be doing reviews on these as well as letting you know what I purchase from them.  Once again they are not compensating me.  I spend my own money to buy the products I like and go pick them up.  I just want to share with you my journeys in feeding my family healthy, organic whole foods. Pin It Now!

My gluten free flour blend

So I really hate buying prepackaged stuff.  I really like to mix and match everything by hand.  Yeap I'm old fashioned and I love it!  I've always loved to bake and cook and since going gluten free that has opened up a whole new window of experiments to me.

Right now I have perfected a really good flour blend that I am still working on, but right now it is working really well for me.  So anytime I reference using a flour blend this is what I'm talking about.

For one batch I mix:
3 cups brown rice flour
1 cup amaranth flour
1 cup millet flour
1 cup teff flour

That's it!  Pretty simple and packed with yummy good for you whole grains.  I'm working on adding quinoa flour into this.  I also normally add flax meal into all recipes, but don't mix it into my flour blend.  I have other flours as well and I'm still playing around, but so far this blend has worked the best for me.  Let me know if you use it and how things come out. Pin It Now!

Parental Rights

I read an article today that left me speechless. . . for a few minutes.  Then I was filled with outrage because that woman could have been me.  The article in reference is this one from health impact news.  It talks about how a woman went to see a new pediatrician for her 2-1/2 year old son.  The pediatrician basically after finding out she didn't vaccinate tried to convince her she should, she refused.  He then tried to get her to sign a waver stating she knew that by not vaccinating she was making it possible for her child to get this horrible disease. . . you get the idea.  Appointment ends, woman goes on vacation for the weekend and comes home to notes on her door from the State Patrol.  Long story short the pediatrician had called the Troopers on her stating she had acted suspicious and refused to show her identification.  The Dr had also turned her into the  Children and Youth Services. 

WOW!  Really.  Ok for one it is not illegal to not vaccinate your children.  You have the right to refuse for them to be vaccinated.  You always have.  It's just easier for everyone if you do.  Schools ask for immunization records and will try to tell you that your child has to have so many vaccinations to come to school.  But you can tell them that you don't believe in vaccinating and they still have to let your child go to school there.  There are actually certain religions that don't believe in vaccinations.

I personally, do not vaccinate my children.  I have had all necessary vaccines throughout my life and some that I didn't really think were necessary but had them anyway to work where I wanted.  The point is this is just horrible that this woman had to go through that.  How mortified I would be if a trooper came to my door and said that I had been turned in for something related to not vaccinating my kids. .. . and angry.   I am very lucky in that our pediatrician knows that I don't want to vaccinate.  He knows that I'm an RN, BSN and he trusts my judgement when it comes to MY children.  They are after all the children of my husband and myself, not the children of the state or the government. 

But that is just my two cents worth.  I'm not saying everyone should stop vaccinating their children.  I am saying that it is a personal choice.  You should think long and hard about this choice for you and your children.   It is and should always remain your choice. Pin It Now!

Dermatitis Herpetiformis

Dermatitis Herpetiformis. . . . Do you know what this is?  I didn't until just before Thanksgiving when I went back to my Dr. . . again. . . for the millionth time(ok so maybe not that many but you get the idea) to try to find something that would relieve my eczema.  I've had really bad eczema since I was young, but it's gotten worse in the past few years.  I attributed it to moving and this house having different allergens than our other house.  But it turns out that the allergen wasn't in the house it was in me.

After talking to my Dr about my recent diet change and how it was making me feel better, have more energy, etc, he decided to take another look at my "eczema".  It was then that he said that maybe what we were looking at wasn't eczema but another kind of rash.  A rash that only occurs in people with Celiac.  This rash is called dermatitis herpetiformis. 

Dermatitis herpetiformis often occurs on the elbows, knees, buttocks, thighs, lower back, and back of the head.  It is always bilateral(on both sides of the body).  Mine has come out in different places over the years, but most recently I'm battling it on my elbows, hips, and thighs.  My son Colin seems to have a patch of it on his bottom.  This in itself is very uncommon as young children don't normally develop this rash.  This is a very itchy, uncomfortable rash.  Nothing really works for the itch though I have read that some Dr's have prescribed Dapsone to provide some relief.

I'm going to provide some links at the end of this post so if you want to look up dermatitis herpetiformis and learn more about it you can.  These are some of the ones that I used to learn about this condition.  There are pictures of it on these websites as well.  I did not feel like taking pictures of mine as they are itchy and painful and just look disgusting.

The diagnosis:  Celiac Disease.
The good news:  the rash will go away by following a gluten free diet
The bad news:  It can take from 6 months to a year for the rash to fully go away :(

Resource sites:
What is Dermatitis Herpetiformis?
PubMed Health article-Dermatitis Herpetiformis, Duhring's Disease
wikipedia on Dermatitis Herpetiformis
Medscape Article-very informative!
about.com-the gluten rash



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SOPA/PIPA

Have you heard about the new bills that the government is wanting to pass to control/censor our internet experiences?  I hadn't until today(don't judge I don't have TV and don't listen to the radio, lol).  I saw some people talking about it on facebook and decided to look into it.  This definitely does not sound like something we want our government to do.

I found a fellow blogger who summed it up very well and you can read that post here.  This will affect all of us and our freedom of speech. 

A lot of sites will go "dark" from midnight tonight until noon tomorrow.  I don't know how to do that with this blog as I'm not technically minded, but I won't be posting during that time as my own little protest.  You can also contact your local representatives to voice your opinion by going to this site.

Going to this site will show you a way to make your website go black for the day.  It also shows  a list of some of the known participants.

Here is an small blurb by google as well as a petition.

There are also going to be protestors on the ground meeting and protesting to the congressmen and women.  Hopefully we can make an impact and this bill will NOT get passed. Pin It Now!

GMO Bill

How do you feel about GMO's?  Do you even know what they are?  A GMO is a genetically modified organism.  So, basically its something that we, the humans, have messed with and manipulated it's DNA to make it bigger or better or more resilient, etc.  My concern is that we have no idea what these GMO's are going to do to us later on for ingesting them in our bodies.  I am not a fan of GMO's.  I am not a fan of genetically modifying anything.  I am not an expert on them at all, but I do have my own opinions about them.  I try my best to not buy anything that has been genetically modified or may contain GMO's.  To learn more about GMO's you can go here to Wikipedia. 

I recently came across a petition to petition our representatives to put across a Bill that would make it so that manufacturers had to label their foods containing GMO's.  My state sadly was not on the list for having already introduced such a bill.  There are 14 states on this list.  To view the list and send an email to your representatives go here. Pin It Now!

Body Image

   Okay so this is a big peeve of mine so thought I'd share this picture.  When did society change?  When did real women become less than desirable?  When did the media start telling us we all need to be a size zero with no tummy or fat(which by the way would mean no breasts as they're primarily fat--so where did those skinny mini's get those size D cups)?  Sorry this is my rant.
   Marilyn Monroe was a sex icon.  She was real size woman with real curves.  You could not see her bone structure.  All the girls on the bottom have real figures.  They're not fat, they're real women.  They are proportional.
   I was reading an article about models and plus size figures the other day.  I was shocked when they showed a picture of two nude models side by side.  One was the standard super skinny model where you could see her bony shape and the other was a plus size model who looked comfortable and happy in her own skin(which by the way was a beautiful color and shape reminiscent of Marilyn).  The kicker was when I saw the sizes.  The woman who makes her living modelling plus size clothing only wears a size 6!  Really since when is size 6 a plus size?!  When I think plus size I think of size 14 and up.  Not a size 6. . . . I wear a size 5 or 7 in juniors so probably a size 6 in womens.  Am I to think of myself as plus sized?  Should I be starving myself to lose weight?
   My answer to that is no.  I am not going to starve myself-eat healthy yes but not starve.  I am considered overweight for my height already and I'm ok with that.  According to the medical charts I should only weigh between 95 and 105 pounds.  I graduated high school at 105 pounds.  I'm slightly under 5 foot tall.  So I'm a bit flabby. . .oh well.  My husband loves me!  I love me!  My kids love me!  That is all that matters.
   My question to everyone is this. . . .what example are you giving to the children of today?  By your actions how are you influencing your children, neices, etc?  I personally am happy with my body.  I've given birth to four beautiful children and my body has changed from where I was as a teenager.  That is normal, that is natural, that is how God made us. Pin It Now!