Our Hope Story

Okay, so I haven't blogged in FORever!! I actually have several posts that I wrote and then never published. This is one of them.  I wrote it at the end of the school year last year. Well, yesterday was the first day of the new school year. Our family was blessed to be a part of Hope Academy last year and blessed still to continue @ Hope this year. At the end of last year every family of Hope was asked to write their family's Hope Story to be published in the very first yearbook of Hope Academy. Hope Academy is the Christian, University Model school that our children attend. They attend school Mon., Tues., and Thurs. We are provided with the curriculum to do homeschool on Wed. and Fri. It is a school that was founded due to two of the most AWESOME and obedient women I have ever met. They were led by the Lord to start a school in His name. Their story of how Hope was founded is an amazing story of how God provides and how His will is done. And, because of their faithfulness so many others' prayers were answered. Their faithfulness was astounding and Hope became what the Lord wanted it to be. Heather and Courtney are two of the most faithful and trusting Christian women I have ever met. What a Godly influence they have been to our family. And, we are surrounded by other families who all have the same goals and desires for their children. Our story was  hard to put on paper, there was so much to say and I didn't need to write a novel, just a few paragraphs:) Let me just say that I have always struggled with faithfulness, I can be slapped in the face with an answer to prayer and still have doubts. How we came to Hope is an example of this. Here is our Hope Story:

The Mullery Hope Story

Our Hope Story began about halfway through the 2010-2011 school  year. I became so disappointed with the school system and the things that my children were being exposed too, and at such an early age. It seemed that the opinion of the school was that they would be exposed to it eventually and you couldn’t prevent it. And to try was sheltering my children from the “real world”. We immediately started planning for the next school year. Our intentions were to homeschool our children. This was the only way to have complete control over their curriculum, their peers, and many other things that were important to us. We never even considered a private school. I knew that most people are welcome at a private school, but for a cost. That meant to me that the same children that I did not want my children influenced by at a public school could very well be attending a private school. We researched curriculum, researched co-ops, attended a few book fairs and questioned many people. The children bought their school supplies and we set up a school room in our home. We were all set to start. We chose to start school the second week of August just to be able to ease into things and see how the schedule would work out. Right away I started to see we were going to struggle through this as a family. With my husband working out of town for several weeks at a time, it was hard to find a separation in the home from schooling and down time. I knew with 5 children it was going to be hard to stick to a schedule. I began to fear that I was getting in over my head. One of my children was lacking the excitement that I used to see every day when I would pick him up at school, that bothered me a lot. I wanted to be fun and exciting. But, I alone could not educate 3 different children at 3 different levels, all while having 2 toddlers begging for my attention as well.  I could not give them the classroom environment that they missed. Another one of my children thought that he would never have to do his work, and the other just flew through her daily checklist and was done within an hour. I desperately began searching for other options. I poured my heart out to the Lord, pleading for guidance. I can never remember being so desperate for an answer about something in my entire life. There is so much responsibility that lies in being a parent and an educator and you only get one chance to make it right. I asked friends and family their opinions. One of them mentioned Liberty Prep to me. I called them and they told me that their classes were full. I asked them if they knew of any other school that operated similar to theirs. They mentioned the name Hope to me. I called school after school asking if anyone had heard of Hope. No one knew what I was talking about. I searched google endlessly. Finally, I found a link on Google to a newspaper ad that had run in the Concord paper. It told of the story of two women who were starting their own school. I believe the story may have had their contact number. I don’t remember exactly where I got the number from but I was led to it from that article. I called the number and I spoke to Heather for quite a while. This was either Tuesday or Wednesday the week before the first day of school. She asked me over the phone how many children I had that would be attending Hope. I told her that I had 2 fifth graders and  1 second grader. She then told me that there would be space for my children and we scheduled a time for all of us to come tour the church where school would be held. The children were very excited to see the school. I was still apprehensive about the whole “private school” thing. But, Heather had seemed so faithful in her desire to follow God’s will that a lot of my insecurities had begun to diminish. We went to tour the school on Thursday. It was all set up and ready for the first day. It was much different than what we were used to. I toured the 2 rooms and met Mrs. G. and Mrs. Humphries. I remember we were all gathered in the doorway to Mrs. Humphries room and they were asking me what I was feeling. I guess I seemed a little uncertain. I had a huge decision to make and only a couple of days to make it.  Heather told me she needed to tell me something. She told me that when her and Courtney had this vision that they felt the Lord was planning for thirty students. Three days before school was supposed to start they had 27 students. My children would make 28, 29, and 30. I couldn’t keep from crying. This was not coincidental. The K/1 class was already full. I had the exact number of children they needed and they had spots for them all. I truly believe that Hope is where my children belong. And, I really needed such an in-your-face kind of affirmation for us to send our children to Hope. Had she not told me that I probably would have still been indecisive about what to do. I was so torn about the money that I had spent on homeschool curriculum and the people that told me I could do it, and to not give up. I kinda felt like I was giving up on something I hadn’t really even started. I trust Heather and Courtney completely with the decisions they make regarding co-teaching our children. They want the same exact things for their own children that me and my husband want for ours. I am 100% certain that God provided our family with the perfect balance and that there isn’t any other place we should be.

 

 

First day of school 2012-2013

 

Worship

 

 

Our happy, excited, God-loving, extended family:)

 

If you would like more info on Hope Academy, visit Hopek12.com!!

!!ExCiTiNg!!

Okay, exciting to me but probably not to anyone else:) I have been wanting black bedroom furniture for as long as I can remember. several times I have mentioned to Mike that since the furniture we have is real wood, couldn't we just sand it down and paint it. He always replied with "you have no idea what you are getting into." It has been awhile since I have even thought about it. But, recently I have been browsing the web (pinterest) and seen that it may not be as difficult as Mike made it out to be (hmmm...). As soon as he got home from his past work trip I informed him that I was ready to tackle this job all by myself and how "easy" it would be;) I have become much more independent since he started working out of town for such long periods of time. There are so many things I have had to do because they couldn't wait. I always took for granted the "man of the house" jobs that I never had to do. So, he knew that I was going to do this with or without his help. He was all for it, ready for a change too. We have had the bedroom set for about 11 years and probably the same bedding for atleast 7 or 8. Everything I have ever seen that I would like for the bedroom seemed to go more with black rather than the country-style finish that we had. So I never bothered with it. Anyway, I got started and Mike saw the opportunity to purchase a new tool. So, with a new disc sander in hand, he was all for "helping" me. This process took several days. We started with the nightstands and all of the drawers. Sanded, painted (regular, interior, semi-gloss paint), second coat of paint, and 2 coats of clear varnish. Start to finish took 6 days, and almost drove me crazy. The house was a disaster. We moved our mattress into the living room because I couldn't sleep in the room with the fumes that were still lingering (and I'm too chicken to sleep with the windows open). There was a nice coat of dust over everything in the garage. One day was warm and the next day was cold (causing varnish to take over a day to dry and was VERY sticky). Finally, this morning we got everything put back together, and I LOVE it!! Kind of a drastic change, we went from a kinda country look, to I don't know what I would call the new look. Here are some before pics:
                                    
                                          armoire and dresser

                          sanding, before discovering Jasco, a stain remover

                          
                            applying Jasco (apply a thick coat and wait
                            15min. and the stain scrapes right off) makes a
                           HUGE mess and burns really bad (believe me,
                            I know).

                              Hard-working man<3<3<3

                            Painting the mirror-no fun

nightstand before:
(I forgot to take a before pic              &                  nightstand after:
of bed, can kinda see it here)

                        Ta-da!!!!! Hubby picked out the zebra print.

                   In love with the mirror and my little bicycle pillow

                            And...it wouldn't be a Mike/Sara project
                            unless something remained unfinished:)
                            Next time he's home....unless I get to it
                            first.

   I cannot stand these bland walls, but this is a rental home and I have already spent too much time/money painting the other living areas because I just cannot stand the standard builder paint and the smudges that were EVERYWHERE!!!

VACATION!!

       It's that time again...birthdays and blue and gold. 4 of my 5 children have birthdays between February 27th and April 11th. It is also time for the Boy Scout Blue and Gold Banquet. We have been planning Mike's vacation around this time so that he is here for the festivities. We decided to take the kids to Disneyworld this year while he was home for bdays. It is the perfect time for us and the kids-they all still eat off the kids menus and don't mind sharing beds if they have to. I have read that this is the perfect time of year for Disney, and I would have to agree. The weather was beautiful and the parks were not crowded. Headed home now and I am killing time by blogging. Could be a long one, we still have about 4 hours to go:) It is keeping me distracted from the driver as well.
       The night before we left was the Blue and Gold Banquet for scouts. Jacob is now a Boy Scout!! Everyone in his den also earned their Arrow of Light. Huge Achievement!! Camden is now a Bear. (in case you didn't know the ranks are tiger through webelos for cub scouts and then boy scout, then eagle scout. So, even though I say boy scout a lot, technically they both were cub scouts. But, now I have one of each.)
       I have been planning this trip for a couple of months, checking deals and prices. We ended up flying down. Mike does a lot of driving for work and was not interested in spending one whole day of his time @ home driving. I had every intention of flying back, but I waited too long to buy the return tickets. I didn't buy round trip because the dates that we were leaving and returning kept changing and I couldn't finalize those until closer to the actual date. So, we flew down and rented a rental van to return. I also made the hotel reservations early and planned M-F. But, that actually became S-Thurs. I got a really good deal @ the Nick Hotel for $79 per night for a 2 bdrm suite. When I called to add Sun. night I was told that rate had sold out and it would be $289 for that one night. I couldn't bring myself to pay that amt for one night, that was almost the cost of the total stay. We ended up getting a room @ a Disney Resort-Pop Century. This worked out REALLY well. Now we had free transportation from the airport, scratch that from my list. AND, by staying @ a Disney resort we could take advantage of the extra magic hours. That is when the park stays open later just for guests of the resorts. The magic hours for Monday were 9pm-1am. Disney provides free shuttles to all parks and to and from airport. If we ever go back, I will stay @ a Disney Resort. It is so nice not to have to drive at all. The bus was waiting for us at the airport and they took all of our luggage to our room. So convenient. And, it's not like there are these hidden costs somewhere, the price for the hotel that night was $114. You don't have to pay for parking, gas, etc. I was so impressed with the ease of everything. I found out online that you can buy Disney tix from the hospital gift shops near Orlando. I believe Disney donated these to the hospitals. When you purchase from the hospital all proceeds go to the Children's Hospitals of Florida. So, $ goes to a great cause and $20 cheaper than the ticket price @ the gate. $20 per person for our family is a lot of $$$. We also got seaworld tix online for $10 cheaper than the gate price, AND 2nd day for free!!
        We got up bright and early Sunday morning and my mom took us to the airport. The kids were sooooo excited, they had never flown before. Camden had asked me the day before what would happen if the plane crashed. I didn't answer him, I stalled. I didn't know what to say, how should I tell him that we would probably die? He didnt ask twice either, thank goodness. I have never really worried about a plane crashing. I am so claustrophobic, I just worry about having my own air and that the people around me won't start throwing up. We went through security just fine. Seating arrangements on the plane were O and Mike in the row in front of me, P and Rylee. Jacob and Camden behind us. I could hear the guys behind j and c talking to them and answering so many ???'s that the boys were asking. Flight couldn't have been better. I did hear Owen say once that he was scared and he wanted to get out of the air. When we landed I heard Camden say "is it over?" which made everyone around us laugh for some reason. The Disney bus was waiting for us and some other families. Nice bus, a charter bus decorated real pretty:) Played Disney movie clips the whole way to the hotel and showed theme park advertisements. We walked around the resort when we got there. It is decorated with themes throughout the past few decades. Pretty cute. All the kids wanted to do was swim, high 60's and cloudy. I sat out there wrapped in a blanket. But the pool was heated, so they weren't cold unless they got out of the pool. There was poolside entertainment-hula hoop contest, musical stars, cha-cha slide. Always something planned for the kids to do. We rode the shuttle to Downtown Disney and ate dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. There was a thunderstorm in the restaurant every 20 min. Owen didn't like that too much. At first he was enjoying it, then put his fingers in his ears, then burst into terrified tears. There is an awesome display of Lego statues outside of the Lego store there. We spent a lot of time here and in the bakery/candy store. As we were heading over to catch the shuttle back to our room Owen spotted a fountain kinda like the one @ Birkdale. He took his shirt and shoes off and ran in, Camden followed. We sat there watching them play with other children for about 30 min. Back at the hotel the kids wanted to swim AGAIN. The pool didn't close 'til midnight.
          We woke up Monday morning to cloudy skies and it was humid!! Supposed to rain all day. We headed to the Magic Kingdom. My mom and one of my brothers (Uncle Boppem) had drove/driven? down Sunday to join us. Owen was so excited, he had been asking for weeks (prob months) when we were gonna see Mickey Mouse. As soon as we got there the skies cleared and it was hot!! We stopped at the bathrooms near the entrance. There is a place near the front gate that gives out buttons for almost every occasion-birthdays, anniversary, first trip, etc. The boys all got birthday buttons. Then the parade came around the corner. It is called the celebration parade and it  goes down Main Street a couple of times a day. Owen stood there waving at everyone, he saw his favs-Mickey and Woody, no Buzz :( We rode almost every ride in the park, I was crossing them off on the map as we did them. Everyone was able to ride almost every ride. If you ever go something you should use is the Fast Pass. Fast Pass gives you a scheduled time to come back and ride the ride and bypass the line. We got fast passes for the rides with the longest line then went and rode the surrounding rides and came back with no wait. The lines move fairly quickly. Also, with the boys wearing their birthday buttons everyone in the park was saying "Happy Birthday" to them. People in the parade called out to them, employees walking by, employees working the rides. The Disney employees are so friendly, all of them. One guy noticed that Rylee was surrounded by boys with the birthday buttons and he made her a button that said Happy Un-Birthday!! Of course she wouldn't wear it. There was an afternoon thunderstorm that blew in when we were on the boat coming back from Tom Sawyer's Island. It lasted about 20 minutes. The rain did cause the nightly electrical parade to be cancelled. I had looked forward to it all day. It is really awesome. That is something you should definitely try and see if you go also. Can't explain it, but I do have some pics on fb from the first time that we went 2 years ago. IMO one word to describe the food @ Disney is yuck!! They do let you bring your own coolers and snacks into the park, so that is def a good thing to know. After the parade was cancelled I think a lot of people must've headed out because we were able to ride ride after ride with no wait.
        The kids all got to choose one souvenir. Jacob got a shark tooth necklace from the Rainforest Cafe, Rylee chose a dolphin figurine from Sea World, Camden (sooo hard for this guy to choose something) decided on a sword and telescope from the Pirates of the Carribean ride. Payton came home with 3 different Minnie Mouse dolls, a Pooh Bear and Owl from the Pooh ride and Owen got the cutest little hand knit Mickey Mouse. They all got to pick out some Mickey Mouse ears, which didn't count as their souvenir because I wanted them to have them so we could all get our pics made with them on @ some point (never happened). Another thing that is big @ Disney now is pin trading. It really is cool, I got into it too. All through the parks there are employees set up with pin boards. You can trade any pin that you have for any pin that they have that you like. You can also trade with anyone in the park that wants to trade too. You keep your pins on a lanyard around your neck. Fun, fun!! Something I have been doing for a few years now that I really enjoy doing is the penny machines. You know the ones where you put 50 cents in and you can carve a penny to have as a souvenir. My collection is getting big!! Almost everywhere I go now has them. I have them from every trip I have been on over the past 2-3 years. I just write the date on the back of the penny to remember when it was and the front of the penny tells the rest.
        When we left we went over and checked into Nick Hotel for the rest of the vacation.
        The next day was National Pancake Day. woohoo!! IHOP had free short stacks for everyone!! And, since we love pancakes, this was where we decided to have breakfast. Then we headed over to Animal Kingdom. But, they had changed their hours for the day and they were closing @ 5 instead of the original plan of 7 (hours subject to change without notice, boo). Soooo, with half the day wasted we headed over to Sea World. We saw One Ocean (whale show) and the Dolphin show, rode all the rides. Not much to say about Sea World, I liked it, but I really had my heart set on Animal Kingdom.
       We had reservations @ TREX in Downtown Disney for dinner (recommend reservations for everything, the line was over an hour wait). We sat at this huge booth, surrounded by huge dinosaurs. Hard to explain how awesome this place is, didn't get but one pic here (I do have some on fb from our previous trip, this place rocks!!) Due to some unforeseen circumstances our dinner here was cut short:( Camden was complaining that he didn't feel well and he didn't eat dinner. Owen didn't have much to eat and immediately fell asleep in the booth between me and Mike. 20 minutes prob passed and Mike shot up out of the booth. Owen was throwing up everywhere!! Can I just say they got us out of there so fast, I thought someone musta had the plague. They weren't rude or anything, they just started moving stuff and cleaning. I went to the gift shop to get Owen a shirt and came back to the table and everyone was gone. I felt like maybe I was dreaming. EVERYONE was gone, the table was all cleaned up and set up for the next party like we had never been there. I headed outside and saw my brother and Rylee waiting outside the door for me. Rylee shows me where CAMDEN has thrown up right outside of the restaurant. OMGoodness, panic set in for me. What was going on? First of all, vomit is one of my biggest fears, but I was certain that this had to be a virus and it was only a matter of time before we would  all be joining them. We made it back to the hotel, put everyone in the bed and I prayed that this would all go away.
     Slept in Wednesday morning, not sure what the day would hold. The boys had made it all night without getting sick. They both wanted bfast. My mom and JB packed up and headed home. We went to the character bfast at the hotel. Owen was given a Nickelodeon birthday button also and he wore it every day. When we went into the restaurant we saw Blue, Spongebob, Dora, Boots and Squidward. The characters do some entertainment at bfast and they also sing and dance with the birthday children. Blue came over to the table and took Owen to dance while they sang Happy Birthday. All I could picture was Owen puking all over him. Thankfully, this did not happen. We had a great day, hung out at the waterpark all day. They had entertainment for the kids at the pool. Rylee was picked to play in one of the games, and she got slimed.
Sara, a really good friend of mine, brought her kids down to the pool and they hung out with us all afternoon.
Nick Hotel had some really fun shows that night that we went to. A Spongebob show and a game show that is kinda like Double Dare back from my childhood (remember anyone?). Rylee was chosen to play in that game too.
     Thursday morning I went and picked up the rental car (van). We packed up and headed over to Disney's Polynesian Resort for one last fill of Mickey Mouse (fyi-had to have reservations for this too). Ohana was the name of the restaurant, it means family in hawaiian. We got to have bfast with Mickey, Pluto, Lilo and Stitch. They gave us all leis as we walked in and maracas. There was a parade of children at one point with the characters around the restaurant. The kids got to pick 2 more pins from the gift shop. I didn't want to leave:(
    As soon as we got in the car Camden asked for his DS, and I realized I had left Rylee's backpack with all that stuff in the closet at the hotel. What is wrong with me? I usually do a quadruple check under every bed, behind every door, in every cabinet before we leave a hotel. Found the bag safe and sound still in the room.
   We had to stop before we left FL and get Mike a big ole bag of tangerines and some other junk (gator jerky, pecan log rolls, who knows what else). We stopped at Crescent Beach and let the kids run in the ocean, you can drive on the beach here. While we were on the beach I noticed where the kids had left their shoes all in a pile in the sand. Something about it made me want to take a pic of it. Something about it was sentimental to me. I don't know what it is. Maybe because their shoes show their personality. Weird? Maybe. We had lunch at a really cute place right on the ocean called South Beach Grill. Then we headed north to St. Augustine. Beautiful town. It is the first permanent settlement in America. We visited the fort there on the coast called Fort San Marcos. We also visited the place where the first Thanksgiving in America was held. And, there was this really cute place called Luli's that had yummy cupcakes and ice cream!! Then, we were officially headed home, the kids were all asleep soon after and slept the whole way home!!
     Something about this vacation made me really want a vacation after the vacation. How can people do Disney 5 days in a row? Or even 3? We were all exhausted. I am already planning the next one-cross country in an RV!! Not so sure 'bout the RV part, but I have all stops planned:) But, now I would like to do laundry and unpack and edit pics. I need at least one day to recoup. But, tonight we are having Jacob and Camden's classes over for their birthday. That being said, it truly was a blessing to be able to take this vacation with our family. I have always said that a healthy family with a roof over our head is more than enough for me. The rest is just icing on the cake.

I Admit It...I Give In

    But, I'm working on it. One of the biggest struggles I have as a parent is following through on punishments. Lord help me, I threaten a lot and follow through almost NEVER!! This is one thing I spend most of my time praying about-how to be the parent that these children need. I am SOOO guilty of just throwing something out there in the heat of the moment or disappointment  that I know (and the children prob know too) I will never follow through with. That may seem easy to some, it really is just self control, but it is something that I need help with. And honestly, there are some punishments that definitely do fit the crime. But those would punish me and other "innocent" children as well. One that I do all the time is say you/we won't go to the pool. But, I have said it, and then we went to the pool anyway. So, I now have a set of certain punishments for each child that doesn't affect everyone. I try not to punish one child in a way that will punish everyone. They all have their own electronics (ipod, 3ds', etc) that they seem to miss if they have them taken away. If it is a group sorta punishment-then no dvds in the car. What I really want to stay away from is the type of punishment that interrupts our time together as a family. 

   Today we headed down to Birkdale to let Ry spend her Justice gift cards that she got for Christmas. We were waiting for them to get some spring stuff in and she had coupons that expire in 2 days, so today was the day. The stroller was soaking wet from being left out in the rain. So, I was literally running through scenarios in my mind of how this would go when my 5 children and I went busting through the doors of Justice (not exactly a toddler friendly store). I bribed them with TCBY, that we would get ONLY after we were done at Justice. We spent almost an hour in there with no incidents. Until checkout, which sometimes I like to call the meltdown counter. We usually get along just fine on every shopping trip until we get to the cashier. No matter how many times I say no, it's like they think if I say no to m & m's I may say yes to skittles????, I get so distracted. My oldest brought me item after item that he was going to pay for with his own money, I threatened him more than once "no TCBY". 

    Gosh, it broke my heart for every one else to sit there and eat their yogurt and he just sat there:( Didn't make me feel good at all. There is definitely truth in the saying "this is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you." I can't say that I felt better for following through on my threat, but I knew I had to do it. It is my responsibility and a commitment that I made. Truth be told, I have been blessed with these children, I am very proud of them, and their behavior is usually the least of my worries. But, I do want them to know when I say something I mean it and I have been teaching them the exact opposite.

    One other thing that happened while we were in TCBY: A lady walked in and asked the cashier had she seen a young girl and guy walk by or come in there. The cashier told the woman that they had gone into the bathroom together!! That woman (I assume was the mother) went to the back and came back out with both children, yelling at the guy to stay away from her daughter. When they went outside the boy walked off and the girl started yelling at her mom. I looked at the cashier and said "I can't imagine ever going through something like that with my children." To which she replied "it  all comes down to how you raise them." It just reiterated to me that even though there are some things as a parent that definitely aren't easy, there are some things you just gotta do. 

Proverbs 22:15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.

Rainy days aren't so bad...

So, I don't necessarily enjoy the gloomy, darkness, yuckiness, wetness of a rainy day. But, rainy days in our house do typically slow things down. And allow me to do some catch up on things that I don't usually take time for inside the house. Today, for example, I have cleaned all basedboards (give the kids credit for that one), cleaned out the junk drawer, cleaned all light switches and doors of fingerprints, tried to update blog (a whole 'nother story in itself), and painted that last wall that was left in P's room. When I get out the paint and paintbrushes I don't stop until it's done. But, for some reason that last wall that I had left in P's room has been unpainted for almost a year. A YEAR!! We moved into a rental house last February and right away I had to start painting. This house had regular, standard builders paint on all the walls. That just wouldn't work for our family. Right off the bat, a fingerprint and a crayon mark on the wall. One of the children tried to wipe it off and it wiped off right down to the sheetrock. I went ahead and painted the most crucial rooms-kitchen, laundry and bathrooms. The places where most smudges and fingerprints occur. I am glad I did, I know it is not our home, but the time that would have been spent wiping and touching up would have far exceeded the time I spent painting. I ran out of paint with one wall left in P's room. One other thing I did was download ALL pics from my iphone to the computer. There was over 1,000 of them. Since I have had that phone I have taken less pics with my camera. I haven't filled up a photo album all year 'cause all the pics were in my phone. Someone at Walmart is cussing me right now :) Wonder how long that will take to print. So, today the to-do list around the house is all checked off thanks to a couple of raindrops falling outside.