The Day in the Life

My good friend over @ http://www.simplehomeschool.net/ wants to see some 'days in the life of...'
Well here it goes:  A week in the Turner's Homeschool
(2nd grader, 1st grader and a pre-K'er...using Sonlight Curriculm w/ a bunch of add in's)

 I would love to tell you that I rise at 5:20 am to go to the gym (like I actually used to do!) but right now I'm allowing myself to  sleep in till 7:30am- yes I am awoken by the children...I realy dont like it that way but that's just the way it's been going (ok...I've gotten in the bad habit of staying up too late! Im working on fixing that problem:)

7- 7:30am- kids wake up, wake eachother up, crawl into my bed and tell me to get up :)
 while I get ready and make breakfast and very strong coffee, they watch PBS kids.

Breakfast/ Read-a -louds
Once Breakfast is on the table and coffee is inhaled I call them in to eat and start our day.
 While they are seated and eating I know I have their full attention so this is actually where I get a good chunk of our 'schooling' done. 
We go over our scripture verse of the week, I read them a passage out of their children's Bible and then a piece of children's poetry.  For history we are reading a book on missionaries- I read that to them and then a page of Osborne Time Traveler's.  By this time the 4 year old has had enough and I let him leave the table but the older two stay for one more read aloud.  That would be a chapter out of our current 'chapter book' ('Dr. Dolittle' right now)

When breakfast and read-a-louds are done, I clean up the kitchen and the kids get dressed and brushed.

4 and 6 yr. old are then able to play the leapster, take turns on a phonics computer game, or just free-play- while 7yr. old practices his violin for 15 min. with me.

When violin is done 7yr old is then free- while I call in 4 yr old to do phonics with me on the bed,
  we then go to the table to learn to write letters, numbers, shapes, mazes, and other pre-K types of fun stuff.  This only takes 10-15 total.

Now on Mondays- I would show a Science dvd and then read a science book and do a science activity/ experiment.

On Tuesdays- we look at an Art book and then do some type of art lesson or craft

Once a week I still leave open to actaully go out and do something- like a playdate, a museum, library, appts, or claim it as a 'stay home day' when the morning routine is done and they are playing good together I just let them play until lunch- other times when they seem bored I start them on their individual  afternoon school work early.

Lunch- 
Again, I take advantage of the fact that their mouths are full of food and they are quiet and I will read either their chapter book, science or history while they are eating lunch. 

After lunch 4 yr old goes down for a nap.

 I work with 6 yr. old at the table while 7yr. old reads his book on the couch for 15 min. and then is free to use computer. 

6 yr old at table still needs me w/ her...she does phonics/reads to me, then math, a little Language arts instruction, handwritng, copy work, and a couple pages out of a 1st grade work book.

6yr old then naps or plays in her room quietlty

7 yr old then comes to the table.
He does his 'independent work' while I make tea, pick up the house and get dinner prepped if needed.  He does math, cursive workbook, and copywork by himself.  I check it and then we have tea & a snack together. (maybe my favorite part of the day?)
 I then do spelling with him, Language arts instuction, and go over money & time. 
He is very focused and can whiz through it all except language arts....he doesnt like to write and get creative- so that is where I spend most of my time w/ him. 

By 3:30 the other kids are up and they have a snack.
 I put on 'Liberty Kids' (history movie) or let them pick out a DVD or play Wii while I check mail and emails (ok maybe FB too.) 

Tuesdays we go to Ballet/ grochery store @ 4:15 otherwise I will start dinner and again....clean up the house.

Thursdays- I try to cram all of the above into the AM only- which is do-able if I skip
4 yr old pre-K and Language arts w/ older kids.
 6 yr old goes to weekly occupational therapy in the afternoon and then 7 yr old goes to violin lessons.

Fridays- I do just the basics - reading , math, maybe copywork...after lunch we go to our weekly Homeschool Group from 1-3 (60 something kids!  It's a really fun group:)

Once a month the kids go to a homeschooler's Nature Club on Mon. afternoons
 and 7yr old goes to a Homeschooler's Lego Club ( how fun does that sound!) on the 1st Friday AM of every month.

Sometimes I feel like I'm running on a treadmill all day (without the benefit of calorie buring) and worry that Im not giving my children the best...and other days I look around (sometimes I have to look hard through the forts and mess) and can litteraly be brought to tears by the joy I find in raising these kids and teaching them to learn, create and love. 
As crazy as it can get, I still want to freeze these days in time...

Dear Friends and Family Letter

Dear Friends and Family,


“A father of the fatherless…God sets the solitary in families…” - Psalms 68:5,6

Some of you know we have felt called and directed by God to adopt a child from Ethiopia into our family. We are adopting a little girl, and will be matched with a specific child in the next several months, then travel toEthiopia to bring her home!  Ethiopia is a country with 5 million orphans in the land 1/2 the size of Texas.  That's 1 in 9 children, and of those children- 1 out of 6 don't ever make it to their 1st Birthday.

Some of you are probably wondering what has prompted us to adopt again. Well, primarily, we’ve felt so clearly directed by God to adopt, and we also desire to give an orphan child a family that she probably won’t otherwise have. Our daughter Sova, came home from India at age 4 and she still talks about the orphanage, the other children, and some really heartbreaking questions. "Why did you take so long to come get me...I was waiting and waiting for you." Watching her flourish is amazing but is a constant reminder to us of all the other children left behind. We know we alone can't put a dent in the orphan crisis but we can make a difference to one. Adoption is a strong passion placed upon our hearts and amazingly even our children's heats. We have heard, "mom, we have more room, we need more kids, I will share my bed!" "we should knock down this house and build a bigger one for more orphans."

The biggest challenge for us is not opening our hearts and home to another child, but it is in finding the finances to make this happen. We know that God is leading us once again to adopt and believe He is bigger than finances, so we are truly relying on faith that God will provide. We estimate our total cost for adoption fees, document preparation, home study, airfare, travel, attorney fees, etc. to be $20,000 - that’s certainly money we don’t have, but we know God is faithful and is leading us to trust Him. By God’s grace we’ve been able to pay the initial $6,500. We held a large scale tagsale this fall that brought in $3,500! We also set up 2 fundraisers on our family blog - we are selling adoption t-shirts and fair-trade coffee. Our children initiated collecting spare change and after 4 months they were able to donate $40 towards bringing home their sister! They are decorating cans for anyone who would like a 'brining home baby' coin jar...they are very excited about this. As you can see nothing is to small (like saving cans!)...little by little we will get there!

If you are interested in taking part in this journey with us there are two ways you can help:


1. Prayer – Please pray God would tenderly care for this child until we are able to bring her home, that God would prepare our children for the upcoming changes to our family, and that God will give us wisdom, discernment, and insight as we raise this child.

2. Financial support - Will you please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us pay the remaining $13,000 in adoption expenses to bring our daughter home?


Lifesong (www.lifesongfororphans.org) has graciously set up a fundraising account for us to raise adoption funds. If you would like to help bring our daughter home, you can send your tax-deductible gift to the address below. Lifesong is a trusted and will pay our adoption expenses out of funds received.

1. Please make checks payable to: 'Lifesong' You should preference how the donation might be used by writing “preference Turner #1618 Adoption” in the memo section of your check.

2. Mail checks to:

Lifesong for Orphans
Att: Turner # 1618 Adoption
PO Box 40
Gridley, IL 61744


Thank you for considering us in your giving this year.

Sincerely Grateful,

Michael, Jill,
Jacob, Sova-Grace & Caleb Turner

Please Contact us w/ any questions....Thanks!

Officially Waiting!

Finally!  We are actually on the 'child refferal' waiting list!  I think most people probably assumed that we were already waiting for a child but in actuality we were just getting the paperwork ready and gathering up the 1st set of fee's.  The tagsale did it for the most part...but there was a small remainder that we needed and it took Alot longer for us to gather than I thought it would.  So the post title doesn't suit me because these last couple months I have been 'waiting' (rather impatiently I admit) to just get on the waiting list!  We got a phone call today from our adoption agency and she said we are approximately #55.  That means that there are about 54 other families that are adopting a baby through WACAP right now. 
She said that we should expect to be matched with a child in 10 months...no more than12 months.  Sometimes she does see refferals come in earlier- never later though. If she is correct that means that we would be matched w/ a child next fall. Oh man that feels so long!  I guess the timeframes I had in my head got pushed back because we weren't really rushing along our homestudy and gathering the documents, and even the tagsale I scheduled was in the late fall so that I would have enough time to gather things. 
However, she said that most of those families waiting before us are requesting 'healthy' children (even though every child coming home from Ethiopia is actually not healthy-almost all have parasites and are malnourished.)  We stated that we were open to either healthy or special needs children.  It's a possibility that our wait time can be bumped up a bit because of this.

Ultimately, I know that God is sovereign and completely  in control of this adoption.  During my 'sad' times this past month of waiting to get on this stinkin 'waiting' list- truly, the only comfort I found was putting my focus back of God.  He told us to do this- He already has a child that will be needing us in mind.  I know that this will be a trying time for my patience- but I'm going to use it as a growing tool.
I will be a better woman because of what I am about to enter in.
Well it's either that or I will turn into a crazy loon, but that's not really an option that my awesome husband deserves or whom my 3 kiddos want to spend there day with.
So I'm amping myself up to use this year to prepare for this blessing to come yet relish this sweet time w/ my 'little' family.  :)
Horray!

Paperwork...check!

It is FINISHED!!

This is the 'Dossier.'  It's the compiled paperwork to complete an Ethiopian adoption.  In it includes our marriage liscense, birth certifiactes, medical forms, police clearences, homestudy approval, fingerprinting, letters of recomendations, financial papers, and lots of other forms that I barely understand the purposes of :)  All notarized and then appostiled by the secretary of the state (thus the snazy gold seals.)

Honestly- this one was sooooo much less work than India....so very glad about that!

  The paperwork for India was absolultely  incredible- I think it's one of the hardest countries to adopt from...so it's pretty much a miracle that we decieded to do this again ;)

We were plesantly surprised w/ Ethiopia's requirements- and they are truly known as one of the easiest countries to adopt from...thank heavens!

So the copies have been made and the packet has been sent to our agency.  They will then send this to Ethiopia once we get our last fingerprinting back from homeland security and we save up/ sell more stuff ($1,000) then we will be put on the child refferal list...Horray!

Oh, I just cant wait for that day to come- it will just feel more real. 

 It will come.

the cousins fall hike

 Anyone remember these!?  I LOVED these 'spoolies' as my mom called them :)  I would go to bed the night before 'special occasions' with soft misted foam curlers on my head and would dream of my curls to come.

I had them in the cabinet (not sure why- havent used them since 5th grade) but Sova begged to try them out.  Her hair is still a bit too short so it just gave it some bounce- but I loved watching her sleep in these!  So cute.

Bring on November

So lets see...
The tagsale was a huge success!  We have raised over $3,500.  With some large donations and money that we have been saving we are nearing $5,000.  Over the next month or so I will be ebaying/craigslisting some really great items that just never ended up going.  (like the tons of baby stuff...I may just do better online anyways?)  On Monday we have to go to an Immigration office in Hartford to get 'fancy' fingerprinting done...once the govt Ok's those and sends them back to us (taking a few weeks?) we can go on the child refferal list. 
THis was quite an experience and I've learned alot from tagsalers.
 1st of all- I want to become a tagsaler...what they walk away w/ for the price they paid is seriously incredible.  It was hard to figure this whole thing out.   So there were 2 types of people I figured out:  the hard core tagsalers that live for this and they expect the cheapest of the cheap- when I say $1 they actually put the bundle of glasses down and raise their eyebrows. I was selling clothes for 50 cents...a lady pointed out a stain so we said 25 cents...she still wasnt satisfied!  The 1st day I had a custumer tell me that I would never sell anything! 
On the other scale we had just random stoper by's- people who dont do tagsales often but just decieded to stop- these people, when I say a price their eyes bulge and say, 'wow...ahhh...ok.'  I had a custumer laugh at my low price and he offered me $10 more than I was selling something for!  I also had a custumer who kept telling me that my prices were too low.  So you cant really win I guess...

Interesting stats here though:  I had at least 4 people ask to use my bathroom...and yes I kid you not...one man asked to use my nailclippers, walked around the tagsale clipping away, gave back the clippers and then walked away w/out paying.  (I think that may have been is tactic- stun and run!)
I had a few people give us doantions w/out even buying someing, even strangers.  I still can not believe this but a man walked up our driveway, asked me if I was Jill Turner, shook my hand and introduced himself as an adoptive father himself who saw the little blurb in the paper about how this was an adoption fundraiser, and then he handed me a wad of cash and walked back to his car.  A stranger- a man I cant even remember what his name was, went out of his way to hand us $100.  That man will forever inspire us to love and to give and to bless others generously. 

Today the Veterans of America truck came and carted the leftovers away.  They did not take any furniture- so we have to just figure out what to do w/ that...thinking maybe the curb but it's alot of stuff so Im a little leary.  I have a huge load of stuff to sell at Once Upon A Child too.  We finnaly have the tables at least down, the circus looking tent is still up, there are tarps all over our back yard trying to dry out, and there is a really big ugly pile of wet cardboard and garbage to be carted to the dump...Im praying before winter comes!  It's not too pretty here at the Turner's to say the least! 

In the midst of breaking down the tagsale, Mike had to move his office out of the garage and into a 'shop' across town.  I honestly dont think that we have ever been in a crazier time!  We try to laugh through it and take it one day at a time.  Although I must say that my expectations are usually to high...meaning my
 to- do lists for the day have been taking me a week to get through!  I should just write down, 'coffee- feed kids-clean-repeat.'  The Turner's dont like unorganized caous. Yes, there is a difference:  caous we can handle, hey we love kids and want more right?!  But the type that is going on here well we keep telling ourselves that this is just the 'season' that we are in.  This may sound contradictory but last night we were both saying how we cant wait for this baby to come home so that our lives can get back to normal!  Mike actually used the word 'organized!'  I know it sounds funny- (baby's do NOT bring organization into the home) but I totally know what he meant- My mind is in a million places at once right now and busy w/ stuff that I dont like being busy with (if that makes sense!)
Too much skimping down on school, too many skipped playdates and homeschool group, not enough yummy homemade meals, too much movies for the kids and not enough movies for the adults...
I hope I'm not complaining- this is something we seriously love doing- Im just Really happy for November to come! 

Memoirs of a Tagsale

 Yes, my driveway looked like a 'Once Upon A Child' store.
Where were all those baby's?  We have sooo much baby gear (some looks brand new!) and I think only a couple sold...hopefully next weekend the people w/ babies will come :)

A yard full of clothes...I thought they would never get organized- but they are all labeled now thanks to Pam!  We already sold garbage bags full of clothes!

 Under the tent

 Books, books and books

rows and rows of tables...boxes of stuff under the tables too!

PHEW...is all  have to say.

I was brought to tears many times this weekend...only once or twice from actual exhaustion....but for the most part it was the good tears.

I can write a long blurb about how hard this was and what a crazy amount of stuff we had and how we feel like we aged a few years in several days, but Im not going to :)


Yes, many many times while Mike and I were carting heavy loads into an already stuffed basement we felt a little insane but we had our slogan, 'this is a sacrifice of love hunny!'


Thursday- returning home from the hospital after 2 days w/ Jacob I look around at my basement and seriously wondered if this would really happen.

Let me tell you that it would not have, with out the love and support of so many.


Mike and I were thinking back over this weekend and we are simply blown away.


We are grateful that God answered our prayers and the 'nor'easter' of strong winds and rain that was forecasted for Friday was over by dawn and we were able to open Friday AM.

We are so grateful to sooooo many who went out of their way to gather and drop off items for our tagsale...we never imagined it to be this big!


As hard of a week it was, I am glad we went through it...seeing what other people did for us truly inspires us to be more giving of ourselves!


Here's what I see:


a friend in my driveway at 5am, knowing full well that she had less than 5 hours of sleep,

people sacrificing hours even days of their time helping us out, people cancelled appts, got babysitters, and skipped school (opps did I say that?) to help us, people showing up at our door armed w/ meals to feed my family (tears)

at one point, I ran inside my house for a quick second only to find a friend at my sink washing probably 2 days worth of dishes, my disaster of a home was now sparkling clean and she gave the kids the credit...now that really brings the tears!


We were thankful for the oppurtunites to talk w/ some cusumers about adoption and to be able to listen to their stories of how they were touched by adoption, we were given a couple oppurtuities to share our faith too.


We are just so thankful for everyone!!


And now the drum roll....everyone is asking how we did...

Our 1st financial goal was $6,000.

We have been steadily progressing up the adoption ladder and we are now at the point of being able to have our names on our agencies 'child referral' list. Now that's craziness! So, in order to be on that list we need to pay the 1st set of fee's...(which is the above goal)


This 1st weekend of the tagsale we made, $3,000. We are quite excited about that. Because we have soooo much stuff and people are offering to drop off some really great items even this week- we are going to have the tagsale for 1 more weekend.

This Friday Oct. 22 and Saturday Oct. 23 from 8-4. 111 Oak St. Southington

It's all tarped up and ready to go!


Please keep the weather in prayer and for even more people to come on out...there is still soooo much great stuff!



Thanks to so many, this is so worth it.

As my daughter said to me this weekend, "wow mommy, you did this for me too?!"