Merry Christmas!!

This month has flown by!! I'm sorry I've been away for awhile, but life has been moving quickly around here leaving little time for blogging.

A few updates:

• My "simplify life" is moving along. We have made the conclusion, however, that we have quickly outgrown our current house and have begun the process of getting our home ready to go on the market. This means packing, cleaning, and repairing. We are just getting started and I'm afraid of the road ahead. With lots of prayer and faith, however, I know that we will be able to pull through this time.
• Homeschooling is still going. We took a few days here and there for the holidays, but are working hard to stay on task. Favorite subjects around here are history, nature, and religion. History Odyssey is going great and I love that we are reading A Child's History of the World along with SOTW. For nature, we are loving doing the Handbook of Nature Study, but things have slowed down since the weather has gotten colder. Finally, we absolutely love doing religion using Mother of Divine Grace's syllabus. The saint book is a big hit!
• Christmas went wonderful and was spent with just us. We were still able to enjoy it, even though family was far away for the first time in many years. Celebrating the birth of our Lord will always be a joyous event!!

That is the quick rundown of what going on around here. Currently, I'm still working on getting things packed and getting school done. I am also starting to browse curriculum for next year! With this many kids, I'm going to need a little extra help trying to figure out how to make our school days run smoother!

God Bless!

Gifting.

This year, Advent has really crept in on us! We still have yet to decorate the house and the only reminder of the season is a wreath hanging over the mantle, an advent wreath decorating the table, and a couple of lovely gingerbread houses.

We're hoping to get the Christmas tree soon and all the decorations will come down for sure once that is in place. For the time being, I keep reminding myself that it's not about the decorations around the house or the baking and crafting. It's not how ready our homes are in any of these ways, but rather how ready our hearts are.

And in that sense, I feel like this has been a wonderful time of year so far! I'm readying my spirit for the greatest gift of all while making wonderful memories with my family along the way. What a wonderful gift God has given me!