She Was Watching

This girl...she's the one who can make me cry with her words.  At least a couple of times a week she will say something that will put me on my knees.
 Just the other day we were driving in the car and the song "She was watching"  by Mark Schultz came on.  I don't know if you've ever heard it but it's about a little girl who watches her daddy's relationship with the Lord and wants to be just like him.    We were singing along and came to the part about the daddy losing his job and how the mommy danced with him in the kitchen and Marina piped up from the backseat "Mommy! that's just like you and Daddy! Remember!"  Well....I lost it...I could barely answer her as I remembered that day.  When I think about that time I usually remember the tears and the anxiety... But I praise the Lord that my little girl remembers her mommy and daddy holding onto eachother.   I pray that all of my children remember the good things and amazing provision that the Lord has given us over this past year and a half and not the mommy who was scared or the daddy who was angry at the trial we had been given....We are so humbled and grateful by all of the encouragement, spiritually and physically, that we have received during this time.  The hand of God has touched us through His people in a mighty way and we are forever changed. We are holding on tighter to the Mighty One who is the creator of all things and when our grip begins to weaken we know that He is the one who will never let go.

James 1:2-12

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.
For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.
Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

In His grip,
Marilena

The longest post ever...

So much for keeping my blog updated...I guess you can call me a once a quarter blogger! Anyways, we've had a very busy few months. We've moved again since the last time I posted and we are finally getting back into a routine after having my family here for a visit.
My in-laws were here for a month over Christmas and I didn't post any pictures of their visit so here are a few:

The kids loved having their grandparents here for a whole month. It was such a blessing to have them be a part of our everyday lives again.

On Christmas day after we opened our gifts we went to the movies with the Green family. Afterwards we had them over for a prime rib dinner. It was yummy!

The boys hiked Daisy Mountain.

We went to Sedona to see a production of Christ's birth. They turn a whole area into an old Bethlehem marketplace and all of the actors are in character. It is really cool. Here are the kids listening to a story about David and Goliath.

All Michaela wanted for Christmas was twin Ariel's...so we had to buy two of the same toy! We thought that was hilarious. She was so happy!

I took my mother in law to an English tea room.

We had a wonderful visit with them and it was sad to see them leave...The kids just adore them so much!

We had a couple of quiet months after my in-laws left but then in March we made a big move! We had only been in our new rental house for 7 months when our dear friends asked us if we wanted to live in their house while it was for sale. They were moving to Tennessee and their house here in Anthem would be empty. We prayed about it and felt like it was a good opportunity for us so we made the move. We love this house and it is such a blessing to have a pool!!! Here are a couple pictures.

About 3 days after we moved into the new house my parents came in for a visit. I also got the surprise of my life!

My sister and her family came in with them!!! I hadn't seen them in over a year and I had never met my niece Natalia! I think I scared her with my screaming. I'm surprised the neighbors didn't call the cops with all the commotion that was going on at my front door!

We got to spend Easter together and my mom bought all of the kids matching outfits.

My sister's family.

My parents and the kids.

It was so fun having my sister here. It was a little crazy having 5 little ones in the house and we all ended up with the stomach flu for a few days.....but I loved every minute of it! Well, except for the part when we were all throwing up in the middle of the night....that was not fun!

My brother in law, Steve, is a major pizza lover. He heard that Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix was supposedly the best pizza place in the nation so we just had to go there.

They don't take reservations so we just put our names on the list when we got there. They said it would be a 4 and a half hour wait....yes your heard that right....so we waited! We would be seated at 10:45pm!! We were all hungry so we actually went and ate at another restaurant and came back and ate again! I was so tired by the time we got the pizza that it didn't even taste good to me, or maybe it was because I had already eaten dinner. I'm glad we went because now I can tell people who come to visit that it was not worth it.

This is Julio dancing with Marina and Emilio at Harold's in Cave Creek. That was a fun night! Emilio and Natalia were dancing up a storm with the live band.

This is in Frontier Town before we went to Harold's.

We went the the children's museum. The kids had a blast! Poor Marina didn't come because she was still having tummy troubles from the flu.

Of course, I had to take them to the tea room.

Julio was not happy about going to such a girlie place until I let him eat the sugar cubes. All of the kids thought that was the best part!

Me and my sweet neice.....She is adorable and she loves me!! My sister told me that she doesn't like to go to anyone besides her but she would come right to me. I think she would get confused sometimes between me and my sister. I guess we have a lot of the same mannerisms and we look alike. I love this baby.....I miss her and her rolly legs....

My cousin, Linda, was visiting also so we spent a day with her and her kids in Scottsdale. We got a lot of stares walking into the restaurant and into stores with all of these kids. It was so funny!

Some people think It's weird that I love having family visit us so often and for so long but I really love having houseguests!!! Don't get me wrong, I do like having some down time and just spending some quiet days at home but I also love having my house full of the people that I love. I really think that sometimes in our American culture we get so caught up with having nice things and a big house and just living in our own little bubble away from our extended family that we don't get the blessings of learning and living with other people. That is the one major thing that I do not like about living so far from our parents. I really want my kids to experience our Italian culture and to learn from their grandparents and it hurts me to not be able to give them that. I think the whole communal living thing would be awesome. I would love it if we could all have our own house but live on the same piece of land and just share all of the responsibilities of living together. Julio and I have always talked about doing that with our families. We actually bought land in Michigan with my parents and before we moved here our plan was to build houses right next to eachother. That didn't end up working out but I can keep hoping right?...

Let's try this again...

Hello there,

Wow! It's been a while since I've posted....Well, I think I'm going to try this blogging thing one more time. I have a new post below this one. It's the simple woman's daybook and it's an easy way for me to keep my blog updated. I might try to do that once a week and see if that keeps me posting! I know some of you in Michigan are not on facebook and like to keep up with us through this blog. I'll be posting some pictures soon.
Have a great day!
Marilena

The Simple Woman's Daybook

Outside my window:

Clear blue and sunny skies. I think the high is going to be in the 60's.

I am thinking:

I can't believe my baby is 4...no more babies in the house...

I am thankful for:

being able to stay home with my children.

I am wearing:

Pink polka dot pj bottoms with Julio's sweatshirt and fluffy pink slippers.

I am remembering:

That the Lord's grace is sufficient.

I am creating:

more hair flowers to sell.

http://www.floragrace.etsy.com/

I'm going:

to a friend's house this afternoon to learn some tips on vegetable gardening.

I am reading:

The Bible

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

Lots of children's books about kings and queens

The Jesus Storybook Bible

The new edition of This Old Schoolhouse magazine

I am hoping:

That Julio will find full time work soon or that he will start making some money with his LED business.

On my mind:

Grandpa Calibeo in Michigan and his failing health...

What we're studying:

beginning our kings and queens unit today.

I am hearing:

The kids playing so nicely together while I post this. They're playing a new game that Michaela got for her birthday yesterday.

From the kitchen:

dirty dishes waiting to be washed...

Around the house:

kids in pj's playing a game.

chores waiting to be done.

One of my favorite things:

The smell of coffee brewing in the morning.

A few plans for the week:

Gardening lesson today.

Renaissance festival, choir, and bible study all on Thursday!

Date night on Friday.

A picture thought for today:

My baby is not a baby anymore.....oh how I wish I could have another....



Join http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Not Back to School Blog Hop: Curriculum Week

Darcy at my 3 boybarians is hosting a blog hop this week. Hop on over there to see what other homeschool mom's have planned for this year.

Here are my plans for the 2009/2010 school year. I really love Charlotte Mason's approach to education. You can read about her here. I have attached a link to all of the books.

For Family Time: History, Science, Literature, Bible, and Character Training we will be using Konos Volume 1 Unit Studies and going to a co op every Tuesday with about 10 other families.
The Units we will be doing this year are:

For the orderliness character trait we will be studying: Counting/Measuring/Calendars/Seasons/Planets/Moons
Classifying
Animal Classification
Rock Classification
Plant Classification

For the Obedience character trait we will be studying:
Horses
Authority/Light/Bible
Kings and Queens

For attentiveness and Patience we will be studying:
Birds

For Stewardship we will be studying:
Nutrition
Exercise
rest/fun

We will be using a lot of library books and doing a ton of hands on activities with each unit and we also have a field trip planned for each unit. I'm really excited to get the co op started! It will be a lot of work but I think it will be so much fun for all of us!

For P.E. we will be going to Athlete's In Training which is a homeschool P.E. class every Friday morning.

Hymn Study: "Hymns for a kids Heart" working on each hymn for a few weeks.

Composer/Artist study: Learning about a new composer and Artist every 6 weeks using the library as a resource.

Italian: possibly Rosetta Stone, not sure yet.

Shakespeare: Reading "A Midsummer's Night's Dream" and "Twelfth Knight" by "Shakespeare Can Be Fun!"

Art: Artistic Pursuits

Nature walks and nature journaling.

In the evenings Daddy is reading through the "Youth with a Mission" series "Christian Heroes:Then and Now" out loud to us. We are reading "Gladys Aylward" right now.


Now for each child's curriculum for the year.

Michaela age 3/4

lots of reading time on Mommy's lap.

learning letters and numbers.

Beginning to print.

Lots of painting, play doh, and messy crafts.

And I'm sure she'll be getting into plenty of mischief while I'm working with her brother and sister...

Marina age 5/6 1st grade:

Language Lessons for Little Ones Volume 3 and Copy work for Little Girls

Explode the Code 2,3,4 Online

Math U See Alpha

A Reason For Handwriting B

Bible: Scripture memory and reading out of her children's bible.

Girls swimming and art club once a week

Julio age 8/9 3rd grade:

Language Lessons for the Very Young Volume 2 and Copywork for Little Boys

Learning Spelling through Copywork A

Pictures in Cursive A

Math U See Gamma and moving to Delta mid year

Bible: "Discover 4 Yourself" inductive bible study for kids and scripture memory.

Boys Lego club once a week and, Lord willing, piano lessons.

WOW! That seems like a lot when it's all written out like that! I won't be doing every subject every day so my schedule really isn't that crazy. Some things are only once a week and some subjects only take 10-15 minutes. You'd be surprised how much a child can learn in just 10 minutes a day if it's done consistently and one on one!

I hope you enjoyed reading what our plans are for this year. I'm looking forward to a blessed year with my blessings!

In Christ,

Marilena

A new place to call home....well, for a little while.

We've had a lot going on around here for the past few months. At the beginning of May we found out that we had to be out of our house by the end of the month. Julio was still not working full time and we had no $ to put down on a rental so we were a little bit nervous...But the Lord moved His mighty hand and we are all settled in a very nice 3 bedroom house in Scottsdale! A dear friend of ours from church is visiting her sick mother in Canada for a couple of months so we are staying in her rental house while she is away. It has worked out perfectly and we are very grateful! God's provision has been amazing over the last couple of months!! I am just awestruck by the generosity of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We have been able to keep up with our bills and feed our family and we've even been gifted a couple of date nights!

Julio has been working with our old next door neighbors and our very best friends here in AZ. They own a pool business and Julio has been trying to get them some commercial accounts and he has also been doing pool maintenance for them. They just landed a big job here in Scottsdale which will keep us afloat for a couple of months.

We are still not sure what the Lord has in store for us in the near future but it seems like work is starting to pick up for Julio and we might be able to stay. We are very torn about staying here or returning to Michigan. We really miss our family(especially now that my sister had a beautiful baby girl yesterday!!!! Her name is Natalia and I am dying to squeeze her) But we really feel like there is more opportunity here than in Michigan.

Please continue to pray for our situation. We are really asking for God's clear guidance on where we are to go.

Here are some pictures for you. I have a ton from the past few months but I don't have time to post them all.

My parents and my Aunt and Uncle from Italy came to visit us in April. We took a road trip and here we are in Sedona.

My Aunt and my mom at the Grand Canyon.

The kids looking at dolphins at the Secret Garden Zoo in Las Vegas.

Our fishing trip....

Julio and I took the kids to Southwest Bible Camp for the woman's conference in New Mexico. This is us in the Catwalk.

We went to White Sands in New Mexico and it was Awesome!!

Love you all,

Mar

No news yet... just some pictures for you.

Hello Everyone,

No news yet on the job front except for some contract work up in Flagstaff. Julio has a 6 week contract and he is 3 weeks into it. He is there about 3 times a week and we are very grateful for the money coming in. He hasn't gotten any calls for interviews and he has his resume out all over the country. Please continue to pray that he will get some interviews soon!

We have been doing a lot of fun stuff lately! I have a bunch of pictures that I want to share with you but no time to upload them all so I'll just start you off with a few from the Phoenix children's museum. Enjoy!

Here' s Michaela after she got done painting the play house in the arts and crafts room...I love the guilty look on her face.

and here's Marina AFTER I washed her hands!!


This was the best part of the museum, the noodle forest!! The kids just ran around in there like crazy people and I even took a turn running through it.

Making "play" pizza's in the brick oven.

playing in the kitchen.

grocery shopping.

Playing on the front lawn of the museum.

Lunch!

washing windows with squeegie's. I gotta get me some of those for the kids to play with. They loved it!

The trees out front were filled with these bird houses and I thought it was adorable! I wish I had a tree in my yard....

sitting on the front steps. Marina was already inside running around with her little friends.

This thing was really cool. The kids would put a scarf in one of the holes at the bottom and it would be sucked through the tubes and come flying out of the top. Loved it! (That's our little friend Hannah in the picture.)

I have a lot more pictures to share but I'm going to have to post them later. I know I haven't been a very good blogger lately and I will try to post more frequently...

Thanks for all of your prayers!

Love you,

Mar