New School Year!!

I love the start of a new school year. To me, it is the new year and that is when I have MY New Year Resolutions. This year, I will try to sleep more, be more organized, and exercise more!
This summer did not go the way I originally intended! I did not plan on breaking my leg!! What a way to spend a summer! But we did survive! One thing I planned on doing was getting caught up on my blogging. I guess my aspirations are too high. So I will start right now with a clean slate! I did post a lot of pictures on facebook so you can check out those.
September is a jammed packed month. We came back from Idaho on Labor Day weekend. School started on Tuesday morning. Not even a chance to breathe! Riley is so excited about her teacher, Mrs Donegan. I can’t believe she is in 2nd grade!
This month is the start of all MY activities: MOPS, PTO and planning for the CNY Navy Family Support Group. In MOPS, I am a discussion group leader. At first, I was upset about that seemingly small job. But now I realize how important it actually is!! It is where you learn about each mom and can encourage her, pray for her, help her. I am so EXCITED!! And this year, I am going to convention!!! In Nashville! I will be leaving the family for the first time! Wonder how Daryl will do in MY job?? MOPS is so important because we need to be building up families. Families are falling apart all around us! Need to shine the light of Jesus to other moms. YES, this is hard work but SOOOO important!
I am the secretary for Riley’s school’s PTO. Another job I feel called to do!!! I know people are busy, but it is so important to be involved in your child’s school. I love being there and helping the people who are educating our future!!
Daryl and I are working on creating a group call CNY Navy Family Support Group. Long name, but you know the mission! J We had a family picnic in June and I was shocked at how little the Reservists family’s knew about the military! So I told Daryl I wanted to do something about that. Some of my closest friends are from our military travels. These people (thought I don’t talk to them all the time) are my closest friends. They understand about so many things that nonmilitary people have no clue about. Our first thing is planning a Deployment Brief for the group of Sea Bees who are getting ready to deploy. Wow! I feel like I bit off more than I can chew – at times. Just have to trust God in my efforts and know that anything is more than these people have heard.
Finally, Daryl and I will attend a Bible Study called iMarriage by Andy Stanley. I took the class this winter while Daryl was attending all of his schooling. Now we can go together! :)
I’ll close my rambling!! Need to wake the kids from nap. D is salmon fishing. He is doing that a lot this week – and then he had to remind me that he won’t be doing it for at least 5 months this winter! :) Love to all!
P.S. I have met a wonderul lady who is helping me watch the kids during the week - as needed. She is an answer to prayer - both of ours!! She needs to make extra money but has small children. I need someone to watch my children and she has instant playmates!! :) Her youngest two are closest to Bodie and Kaylee. They have wonderful times together and she is an inspiration to me! God is so good!

Bodie is FOUR!!

Kaylee has to be in the middle of everything!

All the Presents!

Happy birthday, Dear Bodie!


The Bouncy House!

His favorite gift, from Mimi and Granddaddy

Our crew on the Maine Narrow Gauge RailRoad

He called her "Mavis"

SOOO proud of his ticket

"Can we put it on the 'frigerator?"

He is FOUR!

Fancy "Old Coach"

I can't believe our little boy is FOUR! His birthday was actually July 24th but we didn't let him know because we were in Maine. Birthdays at our house mean cake and presents and we didn't want to do all that in Maine! We did do something on his birthday just for him. We went to the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum. Got to look in old coaches and ride the train in the pouring Portland rain.

When we got back to New York, and while Mimi and Granddaddy were here, we celebrated his birthday in style! I asked him what he wanted to do and the perfect 4 year old answer- Have a Bouncy House! We invited all the neighbor kids and a couple of families from church. Grilled hotdog/sausages, veggies and ranch dip, watermelon and cupcakes/icecream cake. What else could a 4 year old want! :) He got so many presents, I was overwhelmed. It was a GREAT day.

CRANKY

Hello World!
I don't know if anyone even reads this but I SOOOO love reading everyone else's blog. I would write more often but I don't even know if anyone reads this. So for the moment, I am posting that I am cranky. Tired of having a hurt leg, tired of wanting to have help. My kids are cranky because I can't do what they want. It's finally hot outside and no one wants to be out there - we LOVE cool NY!!! Kaylee is such a stinker and KNOWS I can't chase after her when she is doing something bad. I hate feeling like I am always yelling at my kids. Just plain frustrated!!! How long does it take to heal a hurt leg?? The bone doesn't hurt as much as the ligaments around my foot. Want to be normal and not use crutches BUT should use crutches so it doesn't hurt. AAAAGGGGHHH! Am so appreciative of all the help I have gotten and hate to ask for more help. I h ave not been treating my husband with the utmost care he deserves. He has done a great job of taking care of all of us. I'll just go away and go eat worms right now!! (Actually, I'll just go look at pictures to order for our visit to the in-laws next week.)

Fun with Bugs!!

We have been having fun with bugs the last few months! In May, I ordered a butterfly garden, ladybug farm and an earthworm factory. The kids LOVE it!!! We received the butterfly kit and ladybug kit on the same day. The butterflies arrived a small caterpillars in a plastic cup. They looked like they were sitting on brown sugar. After reading the instructions, I learned that that was their food that they ate until they built their chrysalis's. These things ate and ate and ate for days! As they ate, they spun webs for them to crawl around on. The caterpillars looked huge and I couldn't beleive the webs could hold them up. After 2 weeks of eating, they crawled to the top of the cup and hung down and turned into these coccoons right before our eyes!!

taking abreak to head to Maine for vacation!!

The hole in our Gospel

I am reading a wonderful book called "The Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns, CEO of World Vision. It is an excellent book!! I want EVERYONE to read this book. It is changing the way I am shopping!! It talks about how we as Americans are so blessed and don't always share that blessing with others.. If a family's income is $50,000 a year, that family is wealthier than 99% of everyone else in the world!! I have slowly read the book and am wondering what more we should be doing as a family. We have SOOOOO much!!
D and I just completed the Dave Ramsey course on Financial Peace. He talks about building your wealth in a Christian manner along with tithing. I don't know if I can build my wealth without tithing MORE. Why should I "build my wealth" when so many people are dying without having clean water, starving, can't feed their children. There must be a balance somewhere and I am trying to find it.
Early in the year, I decided 2009 was going to be a year of gratitude. I have been journaling along with this theme and trying to let my family know how much I am thankful for. Instead of always grumbling. I would rather be thought of as a happy person! So that is one reason I wanted to read this book! I want to share our blessings! I want to train our kids to think of others more than themselves so I need to show that I do that in my life too.
I am not going to list all that we are doing because I don't want to appear that I am bragging but what kind of things does your family do??

Update on the Garden

It is now about 2 months after we put the garden in. Everything that we planted from PLANTS is growing so well - lettuces, tomatoes, celery - but absolutely NOTHING that we planted from seeds even sprouted!! So I added several bags of new potting soil and tilled it in. Then I planted new seeds in teeny pots to see if they would sprout from there. So I just added tiny carrot, more lettuce (since it grows SOO well here!), green beans and sugar snap peas to the garden. I guess they will now be ready in September.
We went strawberry picking two weeks ago. I briefed the kids before we left. "What color are strawberries??" Well, Bodie loved picking the green ones!! "We don't have enough green ones!!" Everyone in the patch started laughing each time he said that! I guess Kaylee was out of her element because she just stood in the patch screaming for me!! We picked 10 quarts of berries!! Yum. I canned for the first time and made 16 jars of strawberry jam. I was so proud of myself!! :) I felt like a pioneer woman. Maybe I could survive 100 years ago! We will go blueberry picking at the end of July when my parents are here. I LOVE New York!! :)

Working with Riley's class

While we were in Texas, the parents had to work a set amount of hours volunteering at the school. Yorktown Christian Academy was a wonderful school for us to be starting all of our academic careers (Riley as a student and me as a parent). Plain and simple, they expected the parents to be involved!! Such a difference when we came here!! Just put your kid on the bus and away all your responsiblity goes with the bus?? After a couple of weeks, I couldn't handle it! At YCA, we talked to the teacher everyday as she walked the child to our car. . . more later. . .family calls. . .
Now a month later - I am finally sitting down to work more on my blog!
SO I went in to talk to Riley's teacher. WE all LOVE Miss Buckley!! She is a wonderful teacher, calm, quiet but loves the kids. We decided that I would come in a couple of times a month and make crafts with the kids. We made peppermint cocoa mix for Valentine's Day, rainbow fruit salad for St Patricks' Day, handprint bunny's for Easter, Mother's Day brooches and Key chains for dads. I also went in as a mystery reader. I read a few Eric Carle's books and then ended with the Very Hungry Caterpillar. Then I left them with a kit of caterpillars that would develop into butterflies! They loved it!
I also joined the school's PTO because I read that it is important to show how you value's your child's education. I had no idea what a PTO does!! Last school year, our PTO raised something like $22,000!!!! for our school use!! Without the PTO's money, the school would be without many programs!! No exciting morning programs. The district has cut field trips so the PTO provides the money to bring special programs to the school - like a traveling zoo, plays, naturalist, etc. I CAN'T believe what all a PTO does! SO get involved in your child's school!!
Well, at the end of the year, Miss Buckley wanted me to come in so the class could thank me for all I did. I wanted to help out the class 1) because Riley wants me to, 2) I enjoy it, 3) I want to be a help to Miss Buckley and 4) because I realize that this is a way to shine my light to children who might not see much of Jesus in their everyday life. Well, I was NOT expecting what Miss Buckley and the class did for me!!! They had a large cake that said "Thank You Mrs Lierman", she made a book where all the kids drew a picture and wrote what they liked doing the most with me, made me a picture frame with a picture of all the kids and all the kids signed their names AND THEN she gave me a Vera Bradley bag!!! What!! I was trying to help her out and show her MY appreciation for being a wonderful teacher to all these kids!! I just can't believe it! :) Let's see what I get done next year!! I am looking forward to it! :)