For a while now, I’ve been wanting to go through our home and just make some changes, decor wise.  It’s not always easy when you’re on a very tight budget, but I finally did come through on our family wall.  I actually was inspired by a post that I saw on The Inspired Room, in which she showcased a stairwell, covered in picture frames.  This stairwell was created by Sandra over on Sawdust and Paper Scraps.  The colors inspired me, the variety of frames inspired me, and I decided to see what I could come up with.I ended up digging through my crates and finding old frames that had older pictures in them; I also went to Dollar Tree and picked up some nice frames.  Finally, I went to Lowes and picked up a few sample cans of paint.  These little containers were under $3 apiece, and I picked out just a few different colors that I couldn’t otherwise get in a dollar can of spray paint.Finally, I painted all the frames, picking out which ones I wanted to be certain colors.  Painting them was super easy; the hard part came when it came time to pick out which pictures to place in which frames.  I printed out all my pictures in black and white on my photo printer, and then Dan helped me make a few mats for the larger frames; we made the mats out of cardstock.  There is just something about a black and white picture; it just gives a room a more classic, defined look.  Most of my pics, I printed out either 4×6 or smaller.  There are a couple of 5×7′s.Lastly, I arranged the pictures around vinyl lettering I’d gotten a while back for a review.  It came from Giggly Gumdrops, and it says Home Where Our Story Begins.  I arranged pictures of our boys and us around those words, and then I fanned out on the wall with pictures of our parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles, etc.  It turned out really beautifully.  To me, as it’s the start of a color scheme change (I’m trying to go with a lighter atmosphere), it almost looks a bit out of place, but it’s a start, and it makes me so happy just to see those pictures every single day.  (You’ve probably noticed the empty frame; it’s for a picture of my grandparents that I’m hoping to get a copy of next time I’m at my parents’.)  One thing I do love about the wall is that we can add or take away from it anytime….there’s no end to what we can do with it.In my opinion, as I’d posted on Facebook last night, I really have started to feel that our home is a haven for our family; it really should make us happy when we walk in the door; it might even make us giddy with joy.  Even if you take small babysteps along the way, work with what you have to make your home that place of giddy joy.  It will show not only your finger prints but your heart prints along the way.:)

How do you find that balance between standing up for yourself or walking away, being the bigger person?  How do I discern between standing up for myself, thus maintaining control over the situation, thus being the bigger person….over walking away, not making a big deal out of it, thus being the bigger person?  How do I make that decision as to whether the situation merits my saying something or merits me just letting go?  It’s a hard balance to find….a hard line to walk.

It seems lately that God has put a situation before me, in which my patience is being tested….a new person has come into the picture (in this particular situation, a situation outside of all my blogging ventures, so none of you have to worry), and with her, she has brought all kinds of drama.  Drama queen, I am not; drama queen, I do not want to be around; drama queen, I do not want to constantly have to deal with in said situation, in which things were perfectly peaceful and wonderful before.:)LOL  Ok, so things weren’t perfect, but they were pretty wonderful.:)  Said person has not made very many friends in said situation.  (I’m being vague here because I don’t want anyone from “said situation” to read and feel that I’m gossiping, which I do NOT want to do.)

Sometimes God brings people into our lives who are going to test every fiber of our patience, and we have to choose to find that balance between saying something or letting things go.  Do I choose to overlook the rudeness and stand up for myself?  My husband and I had this particular conversation today when I came home from church this morning, venting to him.  (Don’t worry, it’s none of my small group friends either;))  With what she had done, he thought I should have stuck up for myself, and I’m inclined to think so too.  I’ve been rather of a pushover so far, and she knows that; she doesn’t expect quiet little me to say anything.  However, I saw what she did to both me and my friend, and I chose to walk away for a few minutes before I said the first thing that might just fly out of my mouth.  Next time, I may not walk away; I may face the battles head on….but this morning, I chose to pick my battles and walk away.  I felt that it wasn’t that big of a deal, and I didn’t want to be petty.  However, what she did, as my husband said….it did merit me standing up for myself, though in a nice way.

How do you handle situations like this where there’s drama and sometimes conflict that you never asked for; a situation in which it almost feels like you have a huge target on your back, for which no clear reason exists?  How do you find that balance?  I’m learning as I go, and I think it just depends on the time, the person, and the situation.  It depends on whether or not you standing up for yourself would conflict with what the Holy Spirit speaks to your heart in that given moment. Those are just my random thoughts regarding the latest “drama” in my life.

What are your thoughts?

School has been going full force for a few weeks now here in our house, and we’ve been staying mighty busy.  Just between you and me, between school, taking care of house and family needs, and working, this mama is tired and out as soon as my head hits the pillow….you can ask my honey who gets frustrated when we try to watch a movie, and he looks over to find me conked out.:)

Anyway, just wanted to share some of the stuff we’ve been doing.  Jacob is just thriving with our new curriculum, and Jaden’s absolutely loving his “school.”  We read lots of library books, and then I base most of Jaden’s lessons off that same subject matter; we also have been focusing on different letters via the books and projects; for example, one week we focused on apples, the next we did bugs.  I get a lot of ideas for Jaden from Homeschool Creations and No time for Flashcards.  I love, love, love those sites; the ladies who run them are truly gifted and creative and absolute dolls for sharing with all of us “not so creative” educators.  We use lots of other things too like BrainQuest, cut and paste activities, games, tracing activities, ideas from magazines, etc.  Here are some of our recent projects.

We had the opportunity to review this awesome Create your Own Pop-Up Books Kit from Growing Tree Toys (review coming soon on MamaBuzz).We’ve had lots of playdough time; this is a great thing to give Jaden while Jacob and I work on something that he needs more of my attention with. He finds all kinds of creative things to do with his playdough, including using it as a phone.:) We use these playdough mats every week.Another activity that I just recently introduced Jaden to is Dot Paints, which are wonderful!  They’re easy cleanup, and he loves it when this box comes out.  We found these bandage lightning bugs, and they were so much fun to do.We sailed the bathtub blue with the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, as we were learning about Christopher Columbus one week in history.Jaden enjoyed making this Cut and Paste Train, and then chugging it around the house for the rest of the morning, and of course, when Daddy came home.Jacob is in the midst of learning about early America and the Indians, so he designed and made a tepee yesterday, sticks and all.  His wigwam from the day before didn’t turn out so good.  We were doing something wrong, not sure, but now his tepee happily sits with his cowboy/Indian sets.Today Jaden got to make this Cat in the Hat hat. I think I need to fix it, as our plate was way too big, but he’s had a time wearing it around the house.  Just for the record, this is one of his favorite movies.Finally, Handy Manny has made a deep impression here.:)So, what are you guys doing in your homeschool adventures?  Anything new and exciting to share?

Congratulations to Karen on winning the Seventh Generation Giveaway!

Thank you to all who entered.  Stay tuned for more great giveaways, and have a wonderful day!