My Support Group started back up and since I'm the support group leader that means my life went from idle to full speed. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that the Lord is allowing me a season of encouraging others as the support group leader, but I am also learning through mistakes how to balance that with what's most important..., My time with my Savior, My time with my husband and my time with my children. Isn't that the way it always is, one side your working in your strength's and yet the other side is working in your weakness. (His strength is made perfect in my weakness, PTL)
Support Group Meeting Fun
Look at all those homeschool families! I don't know why that always warms my heart, but I love being with other like-minded moms.
Here is Christa, better known to Hodies as "granolamom6" (She is also our support group's newsletter editor)
I just had to share my first baby with you. This is Brandon my Junior
Girls, enjoy those little ones it goes so fast! (Praise the Lord I still have little ones too)
This is our August Meeting where we had veterans moms share their favorite curriculums. I spoke on "Betty/Olive" the first half and then we went to the room next door where moms were set up with their programs.
Here is Christa, sharing HOD! She did a GREAT job! I am not able to sit in one place on meeting nights so she sat and talked with moms and showed them her programs. For those of you who sent me your pictures, I was not able to put together the flip chart as planned. When my dad got sick and I needed to go out of town I had to put a lot of things on the back burner. I'm sorry that you took the time to do that and then I wasn't able to follow through, but thank you so much.
My Dad
Thank you to those of you who have prayed. Here is picture of dad with Seth a couple of weeks ago. He is not doing well because of the chemo so they have stopped. They are now trying to get him healthy enough to do surgery, but he is not bouncing back as they had hoped. It's so surreal to walk this road. You do what you have to do, but there is still denial that your parent could possibly not be here in the near future.
Here is my dad just a year ago.
HOD
In the midst of the busyness, do you know what I missed most? Heart Of Dakota! It's so much more than a curriculum. It's the vehicle the Lord has given me to build those forever memories with my boys. It's the pause that refreshes in my day. It's not work, it's fun and familiar, and draws the hearts of my children to me and vice versa.
During the past several weeks while we've not been able to get to our HOD we have been doing the basics. You know what I realized? I don't want to just educate my children. I was missing those memory building moments. During our break I realized that I needed to work one-on-one with my 12 year old who has LD's on things outside of history and science. Homeschooling my Junior who is doing a homeschool program called, "Classical Conversations" is requiring a HUGE learning curve and I realized that I needed to simplify my life. I'm only one person and I don't like who I become when I get busy. All of a sudden, nothing seems fun or exciting. It reminds me of when you eat too much at dinner and then try to eat dessert. It loses it's sweetness. So, with that realization came change.
Mary's Simplified Plans for this year:
I have shelved "Beyond" and "Bigger" and I am using ONLY "Little Hearts with my 6 & 8 year olds. We are LOVING it and able to fully engage and immerse ourselves. I am doing everything with my 6 year old and only do something different for math with my 8 year old. With all the other situations going on in my life I found using multiple HOD's was causing me to skim and miss too much of the richness. I really believe combining with HOD is easy, but this year my focus is on things that require extra time and attention.This change to "Little Hearts" really helps us. I love that I can once again Immerse. Where's the icon of us laying back with our feet up saying..., "Ahhhhh"
Although you seem to be keeping your focus on the Lord much better than I have in busy times in the past. I seem to lose focus, and talk short and choppy with the people I love the most. 
)
What I realized was I simply needed to return my focus to my first Love which is Jesus and my first call which is my family, educating my kids and running my home and loving my dh who works too hard. The ministry I volunteered to do I thought would be so much more than what I signed up for in terms of time and people. But funny or not funny maybe divinely inspired, turns out to help just one woman do the same thing in her life, put her family first and get peace there and to see Jesus in her life. I think sometimes I want it to be big even if I do not have big to give and really God just has one person at a time and still with that for me there needs to be boundaries on how much help I can give to keep the first things first. So my prayer for you Miss Mary is the same as my prayer for me (because maybe it will apply 
