"My favorite thing about school is reading."

I love reading. There are some books I drudge through, when required to read, but most I breeze through and have to be forced to stop reading. My issue, if I get distracted, I tend to want to read something different when I start reading again. I regularly would have a stack of books, all of which I am part of the way through (kind of like my crocheting projects, lots started).
I fell in love with the idea of the kindle as soon as I saw it. I thought it would be an awesome way to keep my multiple books down to just one item. (I have thanked my daughter several times for listening to her mother once and buying just what I wanted.)
We struggled through our first year homeschooling. We thought a curriculum that was computer based would be the best for us on a truck. We picked Switched on Schoolhouse by Alpha Omega. It was alright, but the answers had to be formatted perfectly to get answers correct. It was beyond frustrating. I did not enjoy teaching. She didn't enjoy learning. It wasn't a good year.
We started looking in April for a curriculum to switch to. My husband wanted to use Abeka or BJU. I really wanted to use Sonlight. I was hopeful my love of reading could rub off on just one more of my daughters. So, slowly I got the curriculum, and were able to start. We had a late start due to a company switch, but the further we get into the curriculum, the more I enjoy it.
We were discussing her progress this year, when she said, "My favorite thing about school is reading." She thought she was struggling with Math, and was amazed to see her B+. Likewise, she was impressed to see her A- in Science. I however, was blown away to hear how she loves reading. I am so impressed. I trusted my gut and listened to my cousin (and only other family member who homeschools), and am loving it.
Sometimes, changing to something the teacher(parent) enjoys is the best thing for all involved.

Caution, This Is Upsetting

I am sorry if this is too much, but I have to get it out. Family is very important to me, and yet my family continues to get smaller, not larger.
When I met my husband, my mother had an issue, so while my family got larger, it got smaller as well. My mother wants to control things, and when she determined I was no longer going to allow her to control me, and I was not going to follow in her man-hater ways, she became more angry. I have slowly closed the door to her more and more with every disrespectful thing she has done. I looked past her continuing to sleep with the man who raped me after she knew he did, but to then condone everyone continuing to act like it never happened is too much.
I never got to know my real father, my mother and he split up before I was born and she lied to keep me from finding him. I found him only because my sister (his daughter) posted his obituary. Now I have a sister I still haven't met who means the world to me.
My mother met a man in AIT whom she married and adopted me. This man was never truthful with anyone. On our move from Ft Sill OK to Ft Sheridan IL he raped me. The activity continued until I started, I guess he was afraid I would come up pregnant. Funny thing is not too long after that my mother got pregnant. Guess he finally paid attention to my mother. Not too long afterwards he went to Honduras, and we went to CO. When he came back he had cheated like crazy while he was gone, and somehow decided he was going to start in with me again. It didn't work, because I fought too hard. So, he got rid of me. It took a year before I could say anything about it to my mother about it, and then only in therapy. When the apartment burned, in some of my mother's stuff that survived I found a picture of my mother and he having intercourse in that apartment, which we moved to AFTER she was told. I was betrayed by him and by my mother.
His youngest daughter has always believed he hung the moon, so I will never be able to say she is a part of my family.
Well, now my little sister is out of my life. She has chosen to allow her son (my nephew) to live with him. She knows, and has said he did things to her as well. So, why on earth would you allow ANY child to be around a rapist? I will never understand.
No matter what happens with the rest of my family, my rape will always be something I cannot get over and I just have to close the door to anyone who sides with a man who has NEVER apologized, and thinks he just wanted to "make sure I was ready for the boys", as he put it. I live with the scars and the continued pain. I guess that is my lot in life.

Error Codes

One of the gadgets we have in our truck is a ScanGauge. Most newer trucks have lovely little displays that can show error codes. Our truck, however is too old to have that type of display. Instead we have a switch labeled "Diagnostic" that you switch and count the number of times the light flashes to decode any error codes in our engine. However, with the ScanGauge we have a display to see the error codes.
Deciphering those codes can be a bit tricky. For example, we had an error code coming up that was not showing when we hit the Diagnostic switch, and wasn't in our list of error codes for our engine. I was finally able to find it on another list, and as it turns out, was for our ABS system. The signal from our right steer ABS is noisy. It took a lot of research to discover exactly what it meant, which meant being persistent.
Sometimes I wish we could hook up a scan tool to ourselves and figure out what was wrong. I have days, and I suspect we all do, where I just don't feel quite right. Wouldn't it be great to hook up a scan tool, and decipher the error code? Instead I muddle through trying to figure it out on my own. I can pray and seek guidance, but sometimes it just seems my own signals are a little noisy.
Just yesterday, a friend of mine had a difficult time deciphering an error code on their truck. I offered to help, and was able to find the reason for the code, and a remedy. That was a wonderful feeling, to be able to help another. Sometimes, we need to do the same thing in our lives, reach out to someone else and ask for help.
While we were not designed with a port to plug in a scan tool, we have lots of ways we can figure out what's wrong. We can pray. We can ask for help, professional or friendly. We can research and read. Only with help can we figure out our own error codes.

Some Days I HATE Meteorologists

Some days I wish the meteorologists could just get it right. I know, it is not an exact science, but seriously. And, it is winter, but again, I just want to know what's ahead of us.
Woke up in Amarillo, and when we went to sleep it was going to snow in Gallup early morning, but nowhere before that. As I dtove through Tucumcari, there was ice on the road. Excuse me NMDOT, but that wasn't on your website. As I got a little out of town, the temp started climbing from 15, to 17, to 19. Then bam, it was 21 and snow started flying. It was on no radar, but it was on the road. I HATE driving in the snow in the dark. It got thicker and thicker, but I slowed down and let the super truckers pass me. I set small goals and just kept concentrating on the task in front of me. As I hit Clines Corner, the snow was prwtty much gone.
When the snow stopped, I had a nice little conversation with God. (Yes, I talk to God when I am driving. It seems one-sided at times, but believe me it helps.) I know I talked yesterday about keeping focus on the immediate future, but somehow this felt like a test. OK. I've got it. God is God, and I am not. He knows what's ahead of me and will give me the tools to make it through. Now can the weatherman and DOT be correct so we make informed decisions?
I am sure there will be several more times in my life this same sort of thing will happen. I just pray we make it safely through the storms life will have.

Clearing the Foggy Attitude

Yesterday as I drove from Illinois into Memphis TN, I drove through some fog and thought about how this fog was like my attitude. I have been trying desperately to not write about my frustrations and turn this into a vent, so I have held much of it in. I have not discussed my frustrations with a screwed up Christmas or our blown turbo. Believe me this year hasn't started much better than last year began. As a result my attitude has become as dreary as a foggy landscape.
It hit me as I was making that drive. Sometimes being foggy is okay. It is in these times I keep my head focused on what is right ahead of me. Can I see miles ahead? No. Sometimes I cannot see more than a few hundred feet. The focus needed to make it through just a few miles is difficult at times, but when you make it where you need to be, you realize you have accomplished something.
In our trucking life I have grumbled, and let my inner grumblings affect my attitude. However, I had to really to stop and consider we have paid off several things, and now our work will be more in our pocket, than paying off bills. We had a bump with our turbo literally blowing apart, but now we have a new turbo, new air filters and new brakes. We are getting somewhere, just slowly and still unable to see beyond our immediate future.
On the homeschooling front, this month brings semester reports. I discovered how far we have come. We should meet attendance goal by April. Boo is really enjoying reading. Let me say that again. BOO IS ENJOYING READING!!! I prayed this day would come. Thank you Lord for answering my prayers.
On a personal note, I have long prayed for a way to use my piece of paper I spent 17 years to complete. (I have an Accounting degree that is only useful to our family.) I am still praying, but with the help of a radio visionary, my prayers may be getting answered. I don't want to share too much but I ask you prày His will be done in this situation.
We are two weeks into the new year. Before too long the first month will be over, and time will speed by faster than we imagine. I still can't see much beyond our immediate future, but I am thankful for this time we have just kept our nose to the grindstone and can now look up and appreciate the distance we have come. My foggy attitude is clearing, but I will just keep focusing on the immediate future and being thankful for each little mile marker we pass.